Brussels, 02/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, the Greens/EFA group of the European Parliament has welcomed the decision by President Pat Cox to convene an extraordinary meeting of the EP's legal committee on 16 June, to look into the consequences of the agreement on data pertaining to transatlantic passengers, which was signed last week by the EU and the US (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.14). The group welcomes this "indispensable stage of the EP's presentation" of an appeal to the Court of justice against this agreement. Article 166 of the EP regulation provides for the President of the Parliament to be able to present an appeal to the Court of Justice against a legislative act on the basis of a recommendation by the legal committee to this effect (although the entry into force of the EU/US agreement nullifies the request for a Court opinion already submitted by the Parliament during a recent repeated vote in the plenary, against the agreement). Other MEPs, notably Liberals and Italian Radicals, also welcomed the President of the European Parliament's initiative.
The co-presidents of the Greens/EFA group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni, wrote to Pat Cox on 18 May, to say that there was no justification for the Commission and Council's "haste" in concluding the agreement. "The attitude of these institutions is simply unacceptable, as regards the Parliament and the Court of Justice, whose opinion was imminent, as you yourself said", the MEPs told the President. In a second letter, dated 27 May, the MEPs repeated: "the situation is even more paradoxical given that spokespersons from the other institutions are themselves talking about the fact that the European Parliament could react if it wanted to. Delays are starting to lead to doubts as to our institution's credibility just as we are supposed to be putting ourselves before the electorate (...). We are convinced that by the end of this term, you will not disappoint our expectations".