Brussels, 28/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - As expected, on Monday 28 June, the European Union and the United States of America signed an agreement that will, once again, allow the US and its Terrorist Financing Tracking Program (TFTP) access to European citizens' banking data held by the Swift company. This new agreement, which still has to be ratified by the European Parliament, is due to come into force on 1 August (see EUROPE 10168). “It is a good agreement concluded in record time and reflects the concerns of the European Parliament,” said Spanish Home Affairs Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. The minister also thanked Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström for the vast amount of work completed. He said it was “clear” that the new agreement was “much better than the previous one”, which was rejected by the Parliament in February. Malmström said she was “delighted” with the outcome which protected citizens' data while keeping in place an anti-terrorism programme which saves lives. She said she hoped that Parliament would approve the agreement when it is called on to vote in plenary session on 7 July. Economic Adviser to the US Mission to the EU Michael Dodman gave a “very warm” welcome to the agreement of which the United States is “very proud” since the re-start of the TFTP will plug the security gaps. (B.C./transl.rt)