Brussels, 31/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Thursday, the European Commission is to suggest that ministers of justice continue to transfer personal data on air passengers, but that there should be no question of touching the substance of the agreement concluded with Washington but cancelled by the European Court of Justice on Tuesday after an appeal by the European Parliament (EUROPE 9201). Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini will put the “concrete” proposal to European justice ministers to adopt the agreement again as it is “already approved by the United States and the Member States” but on a “new legal base in order to avoid all uncertainty”, the spokesman for the European Executive, Johannes Laitenberger, said. If ministers accept the Commission's compromise, the legal base of the text will thus move from the 1st to the 3rd pillar, as the Court recommends, thus giving the European Parliament power of advisory opinion only. For there to be a new agreement, this should be endorsed then ratified unanimously by the 25 Member States. During the previous agreement, Europe was composed of fifteen members. Now, the attitude to be adopted by the new entrants has still to be confirmed. Mr Laitenberger explained that the Court did not take a stance on the content of the agreement but only on the legal base. In his view, this complex situation could have been avoided by activating the “bridging clause” foreseen in the Nice Treaty as this would have allowed the Parliament codecision authority on certain matters regarding police and justice. Some MEPs regret that the Court did not give its opinion on substance, as they had requested. “I would have liked it to say that the agreement violates fundamental rights”, Italian Communist Giusto Catania said in a press release. Others fear that the Council and the Commission might circumvent these rights. “I hope that the new legal base (…) will provide for more than a simple consultation of Parliament”, French Socialist Martine Roure confides. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, also expressed concern regarding the Court's judgement, saying: “The judgement seems to have weakened the protection of data concerning European citizens in cases where the data is used for the purposes of the repressive services”.