Brussels, 02/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - MEPs want to be able to speak soon on the temporary agreement signed on Monday 30 November between the EU and the US on Swift. They are also asking the European Commission and the Council of the EU to send them the text on this matter as soon as possible so they can take a vote on the question. A transatlantic agreement aimed at enabling the US to continue to use bank data held by the Swift company in the context of combating the funding of terrorism (Terrorist Finance Tracking Program: TFTP) was signed at the European ministers of the interior meeting on Monday (EUROPE 10030). On Wednesday 2 December, Sophie In't Veld (ALDE, Netherlands), who was chairing the European Parliament's civil freedoms committee, said: “When the text has been sent to us we will try and make a decision as soon as possible”. She added: “I hope we will be able to take a decision before the new Commission is set up” planned for 1 February. In an ironic aside, she pointed out that the Parliament can apply the “guillotine” and “the Council should pay attention because it could prove dangerous” (in an allusion to the assembly's possible veto of international agreements). Ricardo Passos, from the European Parliament's legal service pointed out that the Lisbon Treaty included a “cut-off date” in the event of an emergency and nothing would appear to prevent this agreement being sent to Parliament before 1 February, including reasons of confidentiality. The representative from the Swedish Presidency, Nils Hänninger, explained that the Presidency did not want to hold up the transfer of the provisional agreement to the Parliament. He pointed out that an experts' meeting would take place next week to define the modalities on the transmission of the text to Parliament. The director-general of DG Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission, Jonathan Faull, confirmed that the Commission would produce a proposal to the Council in view of submitting the text to a vote at the European Parliament. Faull indicated that “the Commission does not intend to delay the process but I am unable to announce a date”. He explained that a legal opinion was expected on the question of whether the current Commission managing current affairs had the power to continue or whether it was necessary to wait for the setting up of the new Commission. He also gave the European Parliament a warning: “If you do not give your agreement, this will not apply and it will be EU citizens who will suffer as a result of it. You therefore have a major responsibility”. Mr Faull also asserted that Parliament would be informed about the procedure involving the presentation of a new mandate for long-term negotiations for an agreement. Finally, he expressed doubts regarding the Commission's proposal for a future European terrorist tracking system based on the US TFTP system. He affirmed that “this is a very unwieldy, complex and expensive system and no one is prepared to take it on. In the future, we will certainly continue to benefit from the US system”. (B.C./transl.fl)