Brussels, 15/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 15 July, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding supported the proposal of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who the previous day had called for strong European regulation for the data protection of internet users.
Visiting Munich, Reding reiterated that setting common European rules remained the best way of ensuring strong data protection for Europeans. “Europe must remain united on this issue which is at the core of European values”, said Reding. Calling on all the member states to follow Merkel's “leadership” on data protection, Reding also suggested that the European summit in October, which will deal with the single digital market, should additionally cover legislative reform in this domain, so as to speed up work.
In full election campaign, and also in the wake of the revelation of US espionage, Merkel argued - in an interview on German public television on Sunday - for the implementation of a European regulation, so as to better protect Europeans' private data on the internet. Merkel wanted “the internet companies - Facebook, Google, and others - to be obliged to tell European states to whom they transmit the data” of their users, AFP reports. A measure such as this should, in Merkel's view, “be part of a European agreement on data protection”.
Merkel also gave assurances that Germany would support “a very strict position” at the informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in Vilnius at the end of the week. The reform of the 1995 rules is currently flagging and dividing member states. The informal meeting, which will not discuss this reform in depth, is even considered rather pointless by Reding's staff. Reding is not currently planning on making the trip to Lithuania. In her view, the real discussion took place in Luxembourg in June. This informal meeting had, in particular, enabled member states to give their opinion on a compromise proposal from the Irish Presidency that was considered as rather favourable for the companies, and some member states put up serious reservations (see EUROPE 10861). The German home affairs minister was not present at the Luxembourg meeting, however, and was represented by the secretary of state, Ole Schroeder.
Merkel's proposal comes at a time when Germany's minister for home affairs, Hans-Peter Friedrich, is faced with serious criticism in his country after a visit to Washington which was judged a failure by the opposition parties and associations for internet users' rights. Friedrich is accused of not having obtained any guarantee or relevant explanation from the USA on the espionage on Europeans and especially internet users and even German diplomats. (SP/transl.fl)