Martin Keegan: Freedom of Association, in Practice

Here is a formulation of what I consider matters, in practice, for freedom of association.

Without having to notify or register with anyone else, a group of people ought to be able to:

• hold property collectively
• open a bank account
• have the rules of their group enforced by the courts

The EU proposal seems to risk these things, by requiring non-profit organisations to register with some public authority.

My attempts to find out what the EU is actually doing in this area continue; I have not heard back from the Commission about my request for information, and the relevant government and civil society people in the UK all seem to be away from work this week.