Strasbourg, 08/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - American whistleblower Edward Snowden testified in writing to the European Parliament's civil liberties committee, but it was by video-conference - live from Moscow - that Snowden was heard by the PACE committee on legal affairs and human rights on Tuesday 8 April.
Chaired by Peter Omtzigt from the Netherlands (European People's Party), who is in charge of two separate reports on mass surveillance operations and whistleblowers, the exchange with Snowden was immediately marked by the fact that there would not be any new revelation. “I will not reply to any question that could damage the security of the United States”, said Snowden in his introduction, before stating that he did not want to see “new charges” levelled against him. To the question as to whether the revelations had enabled civil liberties mechanisms to be established on either side of the Atlantic, he admitted that “no real progress” had been made, but the fact that “the man in the street was now aware of these issues” was a considerable step forward. Explaining the importance of the mass surveillance set up by the NSA against American and European citizens, Snowden highlighted the legal void surrounding these practices. This is a void that Hansjörg Geiger, a former head of the Federal German intelligence service, proposes to fill through the creation of an intelligence code among countries that are friends. In the view of Douwe Korff, a lecturer in international law in London who was also at the hearing, “the Council of Europe would be the most appropriate body” for developing this type of tool. It has already succeeded in having a resolution adopted in 2010 calling on the member states to adopt laws to protect whistleblowers, and it is ready to debate, on Wednesday 9 April, a report on improving the protection and security of users in cyberspace - a report that follows on from a hearing on the surveillance of internet data by states. (VL)