Brussels, 05/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The vote of the European Parliament on the EU-United States agreement on Swift, scheduled for Thursday 11 February in Strasbourg, is likely to be hotly contested, judging by the results of the vote of the committee on civil liberties (LIBE). These results showed that in addition to the MEPs of the ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups, which are putting up a united front against the agreement, several members of the EPP and S&D groups are not toeing their party line (EUROPE 10071). For example, the Spanish S&D members are in favour of the agreement, whilst their German colleagues of the EPP group are opposed to it. Despite the recommendation of the LIBE committee for the agreement to be thrown out, there are a number of elements which could still influence the vote, thus making it very difficult to predict the result at this point in time. First of all, the MEPs' decisions could be influenced by the United States, which is quite prepared to take the initiative in this matter. For example, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has telephoned President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, and the High Representative for EU Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton to discuss the issue. The rapporteur on Swift, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (ALDE, Netherlands), has also openly referred to "pressure" which has been brought to bear on the MEPs. The other element which could lead the MEPs to change their point of view lies in the hands of the Council. It could be that this institution, under pressure from the Parliamentarians, may seek to bring new arguments to reassure the MEPs over data protection during the debate prior to the vote. "Blocking the Swift agreement could jeopardise the safety of our citizens. This means that we need an agreement and clear assurances on the part of the Council", said the leader of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul (France). He added: "I therefore call upon the Council to attend the plenary session in order for it to respond to our concerns, particularly on the possible transfer of personal data to third countries and the issues of legal recourse". A spokesperson from the S&D anticipates that the results of the vote will be "close", but added that he felt confident regarding the possibility of having the agreement thrown out.
Those members of the Parliament who are in favour of the Swift agreement are supported by a report recently submitted by the former anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, which argues that the American Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP), which uses Swift data, would have assisted the investigations into planned attacks on transatlantic flights in the United Kingdom in 2006. Members of a group of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) are believed to have been exposed in Germany in 2007, and individuals linked to the Islamic terrorist movement are believed to have been identified in the United States and in Spain. In mid-2009, information on the Basque separatist group ETA is also believed to have come to light. Alex Türk, the president of the G29 Group of national data protection committees, recently wrote to the French members of the European Parliament to express his misgivings on the draft agreement. He is of the opinion that a number of provisions of the agreement may "jeopardise" the level of European protection of personal data. The scope of application of the Swift agreement "extends beyond the framework of the fight against terrorism, which is not satisfactory", Türk argues. He is also of the opinion that it does not do enough to guarantee that mass transfers of data to the American authorities take place solely on an exceptional basis. (B.C./transl.fl)