Brussels, 12/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - MEPs gave their agreement in principle on Thursday to the opening of talks with the United States, Canada and Australia on agreements on the sharing of information about airlines passengers (Passenger Name Record - PNR) for counter-terror purposes. By a show of hands, the MEPs voted through a resolution welcoming the European Commission's report on the overall procedure for PNR transfer to non-EU countries, and the Commission and Council recommendations that talks should be authorised between the EU and Australia, Canada and the United States in this connection. The MEPs point out, however, that they are attached to a number of principles in the fight against terror, like respect for necessity and proportionality as set out in the European Charter of Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and respect for EU privacy rules. Rapporteur Sophie In't Veld (ALDE, the Netherlands) commented: “Necessity and proportionality must be demonstrated... This is not a political demand, but required by European law. The agreements must be legally watertight in this respect. The European Parliament cannot endorse any agreement that might be open to legal challenge. That is a key issue.” The MEPs repeat their demand for the Commission to supply it with factual evidence that the collection, storage and processing of PNR is necessary and repeat their view that PNR information should never be used for profiling or data exploration. German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht warned that EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström must ensure that the negotiations with the United States reflect this viewpoint and rule out such use because otherwise the EP may well reject any agreement. Maltese EPP MEP Simon Busuttil and German EPP MEP Axel Voss comment: “It is also necessary that the implementation of the agreements has to be assessed through regular independent oversight.” MEPs point out that the signing of bilateral agreements between the United States and individual EU member states alongside the negotiations with the EU would run contrary to loyal cooperation among EU institutions. The MEPs say that they welcome the future opening of talks in view of an EU agreement with the United States on personal data protection in counter-terror and anti-crime. Earl next month, the EU Council of Ministers is expected to give the go-ahead to the start of PNR talks and an agreement on data protection with the United States. (B.C./transl.fl)