Brussels, 09/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 9 September, Jan Philipp Albrecht MEP (Greens/EFA), who is in charge of the reform of data protection rules, called on the European Commission to suspend the so-called SWIFT/TFTP agreement on tracking terrorist finance. Albrecht's call comes after fresh revelations in the press that the US National Security Agency (NSA) reportedly spies on the SWIFT company.
According to several Brazilian media, the NSA has apparently had access to the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, to Google's IT servers and to SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) - which is used by large world banks. Under an agreement with the EU, the US authorities can have access to European banking data stored on the SWIFT network, so as to fight against terrorism while respecting certain demands for the protection of citizens' private life. After initially rejecting this agreement, the European Parliament ended up accepting it in July 2010 in exchange for new guarantees. The new revelations on the NSA's activities show for the European Parliament's Greens that the EU “must terminate the agreement”, Albrecht says. In his view, the NSA is openly violating this agreement. The Greens will press for action to this end immediately, Albrecht stated. (SP/transl.fl)