Luxembourg, 09/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU has said that it has confidence in the ability of the European institutions to conclude negotiations on the European PNR directive putting in place a system for the transfer of European air passenger information for the purposes of tackling terrorism and serious crime (see EUROPE 11402).
“The trialogues have begun and we are confident that consensus can be found”, said Home Affairs Minister Etienne Schneider, following the Home Affairs Council on Thursday evening 8 October (our translation).
Trialogue talks got under way on 24 September and an intensive timetable of meetings was set by the Presidency, a European source said, with “four meetings per month until the end of December”. According to this source, cooperation among the three institutions is good, though there remain differences to be overcome. Work still has to be done on the list of infringements that will apply and on the Parliament's stance that passenger name records should be used in the prevention and detection of terrorist offences and serious forms of transnational crime and for investigations and legal proceedings in this area. Most of the Council is unhappy with the notion of transnational crime and would prefer that the European PNR could be used in offences committed in a single member state (and not necessarily in more than one) and punishable by prison sentences of at least three years. The two legislators are also at odds on whether or not to include intra-European flights within the scope of the European PNR. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)