By Bruno Waterfield - 27th April 2006
Europe’s justice ministers meet in Luxembourg to discuss special measures for hosting the World Cup 2006 in Germany.
Fears over the trafficking of prostitutes will see a police and borders crackdown during the June to July football tournament.
Socialist ministers and national justice officials from Sweden, Luxembourg, Hungary, Finland and Bulgaria will be pushing action.
Over one million mostly male soccer fans are to converge on Germany for the soccer tournament in June, fuelling fears of a surge in demand for prostitution – brothels are legal under German law.
The EU is set to introduce tougher border surveillance to prevent the mass trafficking of women into Germany, especially prostitutes drafted in from eastern Europe.
Socialist MEPs have written to justice ministers to call on Europol, German and national police forces to target the criminal gangs responsible for the vice trade.
Hungarian MEP Zita Gurmai, president of the European socialist women section, argues that “some people are in denial about this abuse of women”.
“The fact is that so-called performance boxes, wooden huts with beds, are being built around stadiums in different cities across Germany to meet the extra demand for prostitution,” she said.
“This demand will be met, at least in part, by illegally trafficking women into Germany to work as prostitutes. It is a crime, akin to slavery, which should be prevented.”
A crackdown on prostitution is backed by European leaders including Tony Blair, José Luis Zapatero, José Sócrates, Göran Persson, Ferenc Gyurcsány, Jirí Paroubek and Sergei Stanishev.
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