Brussels, 23/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission responded negatively, but as the revelations pile up, the European Parliament asked the Commission again, on Thursday 23 October, to propose to the Council the suspension of the SWIFT-Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) agreement. This agreement was concluded between the EU and US in 2010 and relates to the transfer of Europeans' bank data to Washington for the purposes of fighting terrorism. The ALDE, Greens/EFA and S&D Groups at the European Parliament believe the SWIFT-TFTP to be too tainted by the different revelations on the espionage of the US National Security Agency (NSA). The motion of these groups was approved by the slight majority of 280 votes to 245 with 30 abstentions. The groups believe it is impossible to maintain the agreement as it stands.
In the middle of September, Brazilian media pointed out, on the basis of documents from Edward Snowden, that the NSA had apparently overstepped the limits for which access to data managed by SWIFT had been authorised by the EU.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström was moved to send an immediate letter to her counterparts in the US Treasury. They apparently gave her proof of their good faith. At the beginning of October, during a debate on the issue in Strasbourg, Malmström assured MEPs that nothing showed that this agreement dating back to 2010 had been violated. She then stated her refusal to ask the Council for the suspension of the SWIFT-TFTP agreement. She maintained this position on Thursday, reiterating in a press release that there is still no proof of a possible violation of the agreement. The EPP Group also takes this line and tried in vain on Thursday to have a motion passed calling for the agreement to be maintained.
In the view of the European Parliament, whose resolution remains primarily symbolic and commits the Council or Commission to nothing, there has not been an investigation worthy of the name into the allegations stated by the press. Europol has not been approached by any of the member states. In its resolution, the Parliament calls on the member states to authorise an investigation by Europol's cyber-crime centre.
The MEPs also reiterate - ahead of the European summit that will have this issue on its agenda - that “any data sharing agreement with the US must be based on a consistent legal data protection framework, offering legally-binding standards on purpose limitation, data minimisation, information, access, correction, erasure and redress”.
These principles had earlier been upheld by the European Parliament's civil liberties committee during its vote on the reform of data protection rules on Monday evening. Far from entering into detail, the European Council will try to agree on a timetable for the reform that it is due to promise for 2014. While France, which is shocked by the NSA's spying on its citizens, wants this reform as quickly as possible, the UK, Ireland and Denmark have come out against this timetable. (SP/transl.fl)