30/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has sent a letter to the Belgian Justice Minister, Laurette Onkelinx, calling on the Belgian government to explain what it plans to do about the Swift affair. “We have written an official letter to the Belgian government asking what initiative it intends to adopt given that there is talk of violation of national law”, Commissioner Franco Frattini said on Thursday during a press conference. The European authorities responsible for data protection said on 23 November that Swift had breached European privacy law by giving US authorities access to personal data (EUROPE 9313). The Commission pointed out that letters had been sent to all EU governments asking them whether their situations are similar and what initiatives each government plans to take. The US company, SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), whose European seat is in Belgium, allows around 11 million financial transactions to be carried out daily between 7,800 financial institutions throughout more than 200 countries. To counter terrorism in the aftermath of the attacks on 11 September 2001, Swift has been forced to provide the US Treasury with data in its possession on financial transfers. (bc)