Brussels, 14/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 13 October, the EP Civil Liberties Committee stated that too little has been done to ensure that citizens' rights are protected following revelations of electronic mass surveillance by Edward Snowden and that Europeans' and fundamental rights remained under threat.
By adopting the resolution prepared by Claude Moraes (S&D, United Kingdom), which constitute the follow-up of the first resolution adopted in 2014, MEPs urged the European Commission to “come up immediately” with alternatives to Safe Harbor which had been invalidated on 6 October following the ruling by the European Court of Justice. They are also concerned about the surveillance laws in several EU countries. The rapporteur, Claude Moraes, explained: “The European Parliament's inquiry into the revelations by Edward Snowden of electronic mass surveillance was the most comprehensive investigation completed to date. Not only did the report call for an immediate end to indiscriminate mass surveillance practices by intelligence services both in the EU and the US, but it also set out a roadmap for further action in this area. Following this inquiry, there is widespread agreement that something has gone wrong with the way that intelligence agencies and others have acted”.
On the issue of Safe Harbor, MEPs welcomed the ruling by the European Court of Justice and said the Commission must immediately take the necessary measures “to ensure an effective level of protection equivalent to the protection ensured in the EU”. MEPs protested that Parliament had received “no formal feedback from the Commission regarding the implementation of the 13 recommendations for a 'safer' Safe Harbor”, and stressed that “it is now urgent that the Commission provide a thorough update on the negotiations thus far and the impact of the judgment on the further negotiations”. They also invite the Commission to reflect “immediately” on alternatives to Safe Harbor and on the impact of the judgment on any other instruments used for the transfer of personal data to the US and report on it by the end of 2015. They are also reserving “the right to bring an action for failure to act or to place certain budgetary resources for the Commission in a reserve until all recommendations have been properly addressed” by the end of 2015.
The resolution also focuses on surveillance legislation in several member states and MEPs are concerned by “some of the recent laws in some member states that extend the surveillance capabilities of intelligence bodies”, including in France, the UK and the Netherlands. They are also worried about the revelations of mass surveillance of telecommunications and Internet traffic inside the EU by the German foreign intelligence agency BND in cooperation with the US National Security Agency (NSA). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)