Brussels, 27/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 27 November, the US senator, Chris Murphy, who chairs the Europe subcommittee at the Senate, met MEPs from the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. He guaranteed that the US was preparing real “changes” and was not simply creating a “façade” to their legislation, in the wake of the spying scandal. A committee press release reported Murphy as saying that legislation required “substantial modification” particularly with regard to metadata gathering and surveillance procedures. The senator, who had already met Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding earlier in the day, said that the US had clearly crossed the line in the way it had conducted its surveillance activities. Murphy said that the two parties now had to find ways of rebuilding trust, particularly with regard to concluding their trade negotiations. House of Representatives members, Mario Diaz-Balart and Gregory Meeks, were also heard by the MEPs.
On Tuesday, the European Commission called on the US to amend its legislation by summer 2014 to allow EU citizens to seek redress in the event of their personal data having been misused, failing which, certain agreements could be suspended, particularly the so-called Safe Harbour agreement. (SP/transl.fl)