Brussels, 18/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 November, EU and US officials were due to meet in Washington to discuss the issue of data protection. At the traditional EU-US ministerial meeting specifically for issues of justice and home affairs, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström were due to meet US Attorney General Eric Holder from the US Department of Justice and acting Secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security Rand Beers. Lithuania's Minister for Justice Jouzas Bernatonis and Deputy Minister for the Interior Elvinas Janckevicius are representing the Council of the EU. Against the backdrop of the scandal surrounding the activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA), the stakeholders were due to discuss data protection, judicial cooperation and victims' rights - as well as immigration, the fight against terrorism and cyber-crime. On Tuesday, Malmström is also due to meet US Treasury Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen to discuss the functioning of the Swift/TFTP agreement on financial transactions after accusations that the NSA has accessed Swift data for purposes other than those of fighting terrorism. A consultation procedure has been launched by the European Commission on this. (SP/transl.fl)