Brussels, 12/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday morning, in the throes of the scandal involving the US National Security Agency (NSA) communications surveillance programme, the now infamous PRISM programme, the Greens/EFA at the European Parliament launched a mass public awareness campaign on personal data protection and the ways this data is used on a daily basis. The “Respect my Privacy” campaign (http://www.respect-my-privacy.eu/ ) also seeks to encourage internet users to become involved by contacting their MEPs about the ongoing reform of the 1995 directive. This reform has largely been taken over by major US groups such as Google and Facebook, backed up by an armada of lobbyists, but where there are now just a few civil society representatives present.
Last Thursday, justice ministers met up again in Luxembourg to discuss this reform, particularly the general regulation on data protection. They were still unable to reach agreement on a formal position on the amendments proposed by the Irish Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which some countries consider favour corporate interests a little too much and which they believe could potentially reduce the level of citizens' protection. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, think the amendments a little too timorous and t would like much more flexibility to be shown towards SMEs. The European Parliament is very divided among the numerous committees that have been called on to give their opinions on the question, and has also had to slow down progress on this issue. Overwhelmed by the number of amendments, the EP civil freedoms committee has therefore decided to postpone the vote that had initially been planned for the end of May. No other date for the vote has as yet been agreed. (SP/transl.fl)