World Cup Plays it Safe

"Germany wants to show the world that it's a broad-minded, contented nation," said Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble at the opening talk. "And that involves doing everything that is humanly possible to ensure the safety of everyone involved."

Attending the conference were representatives from all participating countries as well as from neighboring and transit countries. The goal of the conference was to find out more about security issues, establish cooperation between national security forces and develop uniform procedures.

Safe but not restrictive

The authorities agreed that their biggest challenge was to guarantee maximum security without giving participants any sense of being hemmed in.

"We all want safe games," said Schäuble, "but we don't want security concerns to dominate."

Nonetheless, one measure Schäuble has proposed adopting is to temporarily suspend the Schengen Agreement, which allows EU citizens to travel between signatory countries without border controls.

But ultimately, the biggest threat overshadowing the World Cup is cast by the spectre of hooliganism, although it was agreed at the talks that the problem is not associated with any one country in particular. With this is mind, bilateral agreements between countries are designed to prevent known hooligans travelling between June 9 and July 9.

The ministry also plans to raise public awareness with information campaigns about right-wing activities during the games.

But the need to avoid scare-mongering was also stressed. "We expect the majority of fans to be peaceful," said Hauke Blohm from the Interior Ministry.

Further risks

Horst Schmidt, general secretary with the German Football Association (DFB) and vice president of the World Cup Organizational Committee, explained that Germany's stadiums are well-equipped to deal with incidents such as fire or rioting.

Another potential risk are the "public viewing" sites which will be set up during the games. For the first time, the matches will be shown on huge screens erected outside the stadiums allowing fans without tickets to follow the action.

Terrorism, meanwhile, is broadly seen as a relatively unlikely threat. As Schäuble pointed out, football enjoys such international popularity that terrorists are unlikely to use the World Cup as an opportunity for acts of violence.

Optimistic

The interior minister had nothing but praise for the international supported provided to Germany by other countries.

Along with the 2000 Bundeswehr soldiers, police forces from across Europe will be on hand to give the German police back-up, while even NATO is set to deploy its AWAC surveillance planes.

Despite the risks and the tight security measures, the basic message of the conference was one of goodwill.

"We can't change the world," said FIFA President Joseph Blatter. "But we can bring people together!"