Brussels, 01/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The commissioner for justice, liberty and security, Jacques Barrot, hopes that the European Parliament will play its part in working towards the conclusion of a long-term agreement on transfers of Swift bank data. "For a definitive agreement on Swift, we need to be very firm on reciprocity. And this is where the Parliament comes in", said Mr Barrot in an interview with EUROPE. "It is vital that all of the information collected can be exchanged and that Europe has a right to draw certain information, otherwise there is no point (...). It is vital for the Parliament to play an active role in order to prevent us from ending up with a second-rate agreement", he said. The Commission spoke of the criticism voiced by the Parliament, which had asked for the entry into force of the temporary Swift agreement concluded last November to be delayed (EUROPE 10065 and 10063). "For the temporary agreement, it is simply a case of extending for a few months (nine months) and after that, there will be a definitive agreement. Even so, I believe that after the failed attack of 25 December, it is slightly hard to believe that the European Parliament is now calling for the suspension of Swift", he said. "Judge Bruguière told us objectively that it appeared to him that a number of threats had been averted by means of this surveillance system. So to interrupt Swift at this moment in time seems somewhat hard to justify", he concluded. (B.C./transl.fl)