Strasbourg, 05/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The temporary committee on the Echelon spy system adopted, on Tuesday evening in Strasbourg, the report by the German Social Democrat Gerhard Schmid, who notes the existence of this global communications interception system at the international level and includes a catalogue of 44 recommendations notably for the attention of the European Union institutions. This report will be examined in plenary in September.
The report, adopted with a very large majority (27 votes for, 5 against and 2 abstentions), asserts that no doubt exists over the existence of an interception system managed by five countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. While feeling that the effectiveness of this system is limited, he underlines the threats that it presents for the private lives of citizens and the activities of companies. However the committee did not find any concrete proof of this system's use for economic espionage. In its conclusions, the temporary committee hopes that the United Nations and the Council of Europe examine possible modifications to conventions that would enable to better guarantee the respect for the private life in the face of such systems. It hopes that the EU Member States and the United States begin an open dialogue over economic espionage. The report also calls on the European Commission and the Member States to inform the citizens and companies of the dangers of interceptions that threaten their communications and means of protection, which allow to remedy them. In this context, it insists on measures to be taken to develop and manufacture in Europe reliable encryption systems. The Council and the Member States are invited to establish a system of democratic monitoring of the European espionage activities and to coordinate their activities at the European level in order to enhance the effectiveness of the common foreign and security policy as well as the activities concerning the fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation, drug trafficking. Such coordination should respect the protection of the private life and the confidentiality of company communications. Germany (where an Echelon listening post is situated) and the United Kingdom are invited to only authorise the continuation of interceptions undertaken by the United States on their territory on condition that they respect the provisions of the European Human Rights Convention (EHRC).
Minority position for MEPs from Green and Left
In a minority opinion, the MEPs Guiseppe Di Lello (GUE, Italian), Pernille Frahm (GUE, Danish), Alain Krivine (GUE, French) and Kathaline Buitenweg (Dutch Green), assert that the Echelon system violates the fundamental right to the respect for the private life guaranteed by Articles 8 of the EHRC and 6 of the EU Treaty. This system thus violates in a flagrant manner the freedoms of European citizens, the logic of the free market and the security of the Union; whatever our appreciation for opposition to this logic and the treaties may be, these violations are unacceptable, assert the MEPs who feel that the report should have called on the United Kingdom to disassociate itself from the Echelon system and on Germany to close the listening stations on its territory. Also to conclude: we can only regret that the European Union is more concerned by industrial espionage than for listening in on individuals. During a press conference, the German Green Ilka Schöder, who joined this minority position, considered it hypocritical for the Parliament to criticise Echelon, while calling for the creation of a European spying system.