Brussels, 23/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The S&D Group at the EP took a firm line on Wednesday 22 June in Brussels against the draft agreement negotiated between the US and the European Commission on the programme of transferring Passenger Name Records (PNR). The group said that it was very concerned about the matter. In a press release, Claudio Moraes, stated that the EU should not agree to an agreement because its scope was too broad and the justifications for processing European PNR too many. The MEP said that broad provisions would require application on cases involving minor offences or border controls. Compounded with the use of PNR data is the fact that this data could be kept for up to 15 years, which would be very difficult to justify to European citizens. The group is concerned by the lack of provisions on the supervision of data protection in the US and is urgently demanding that the Commission return to the negotiating table to obtain some real improvements on the agreements that have been in force since 2007. (S.P./transl.fl)