Brussels, 19/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - EU member states could very well give the go-ahead this week to negotiations with the United States of the transfer of banking data for anti-terrorist purposes. Unless there is a last minute change, EU home affairs ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 22 or 23 April, are expected to approve the draft mandate on the negotiation of a long-term agreement, the so-called Swift agreement. The European Commission, which proposed a negotiating mandate at the end of March, hopes that agreement will be reached by the end of June. At their meeting on 15 April, member states' permanent representatives took note of progress in this affair. “Apart from a few points of detail, there is broad agreement on the text negotiated by the member states. There does, however, remain one serious issue: use of mutual assistance in criminal matters,” a diplomat revealed. Several member states, including the Benelux countries, Austria, Finland and Germany and, to a slightly more qualified extent, France and Italy, oppose the use of these agreements to authorise the transfer of millions of pieces of data from Europe to the US Exchequer (see EUROPE 10112). The Commission was asked, then, to produce an options paper, something it has refused to do, taking the view that there is no possible alternative at this stage. Even though the issue is dividing member states, several countries could give their approval to the text while remaining evasive on this thorny issue, so that more in-depth discussions may take place once the negotiations have formally begun. The adoption of the mandate is expected to be done by qualified majority. On 11 April, the European Parliament will vote on a draft resolution on the new Swift agreement. (B.C./transl.rt)