Strasbourg, 29/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Two weeks after the vote in the European Parliament's civil liberties committee, MEPs - in plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday 29 October - adopted a resolution condemning mass surveillance and stating that too little had been done by governments to protect the privacy of European citizens. The resolution did not go through without opposition, however, the EPP and ECR groups having voted against it.
The resolution, passed by 342 votes to 274, with 29 abstentions, is a follow-up to a previous resolution adopted in 2014 and calls, too, for the criminal charges to be lifted against former US agent Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on NSA activities, and for the Swift-TFTP agreement to be suspended. This agreement relates to the transfer of banking data to the United States for counter-terrorism purposes.
The EPP was unhappy, among other things, with these last two amendments but was unable to block them. However, it was successful in its opposition to the call made by several groups also to suspend negotiations on the transatlantic free-trade agreement (TTIP), which was defeated. The Socialist and Democrats (S&D) were not united, with the French members of the group uneasy about the reference made to the French law on intelligence that has been criticised from all quarters after it was introduced by the French Socialist government in the wake of the terrorist attacks in January of this year.
The resolution refers to the French law as one among many in force in the member states - Parliament also highlights a UK and a Dutch law - that give cause for concern. However, there is no longer any question of the Commission being asked to investigate it and to assess compliance with EU law, that part of the resolution having been removed. Ultimately only four S&D MEPs (all French) abstained, and no Social Democrat voted against the resolution.
In general, MEPs felt that “too little has been done to safeguard citizens' fundamental rights following revelations of electronic mass surveillance” and they urge the Commission to ensure that all data transfers to the US are subject to an “effective level of protection”. MEPs consider the Commission's response so far to Parliament's 2014 resolution “highly inadequate” given the extent of the revelations of mass surveillance. “EU citizens' fundamental rights remain in danger”, they say.
Parliament also voted by 285 to 281 to call on the member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender”.
The resolution also calls on the Commission to give consideration to the impact of the Court of Justice Safe Harbor ruling of 6 October on any other instruments for the transfer of personal data to the US and to report on the matter by the end of 2015. The Court ruling “has confirmed the long-standing position of Parliament regarding the lack of an adequate level of protection under this instrument”, MEPs state. Parliament calls on the Commission to “immediately take the necessary measures to ensure that all personal data transferred to the US are subject to an effective level of protection that is essentially equivalent to that guaranteed in the EU”.
Lastly, the resolution also calls for “an EU strategy for greater IT independence and online privacy” and stresses the “need to ensure meaningful democratic oversight of intelligence activities and to rebuild trust with the US”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)