Brussels, 28/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 July, EU Home Affairs Ministers backed setting up a European PNR (Passenger Name Record), which would allow member states to gather and share the personal information held on passengers by commercial airlines, as part of the fight against terrorism. “We are on the right road to be able to hope that the PNR will adopted in 2009,” European Justice, Liberty and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot told press. Initially, the draft framework decision presented by the Commission in November 2007 referred only to flights within the Community. The agreement between Ministers concerned the relevance of such an instrument for the European Union and how to achieve it. In the first instance, working groups will discuss the various issues posed by PNR, such as the proposal's legal basis, how information is to be stored and for how long and data protection. The experts will also have to decide whether the information should be gathered only on passengers from third countries or also on those in intra-Community and transit flights. A final technical report is likely to be delivered by November. Ministers said they wanted to involve a number of stakeholders in the reflection process (European Parliament, data protection authorities, and professionals in the sectors affected). The European Parliament and the air sector expressed serious concern when draft “European PNR” was presented.
At the session devoted to home affairs, French Home Affairs Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie was given her colleagues' unanimous backing on two points on the agenda. The Council of the EU approved the French Presidency proposal creating a European platform for tackling cybercrime, which will be based at Europol and will report infringements, particularly in relation to child pornography, on the internet. The Commission has undertaken to fund this body. Ministers also supported the proposal to draw up, this autumn, a comprehensive action plan to tackle cybercrime, which will see a strengthening of the “Check the web” project in combating propaganda and terrorist recruitment on the internet. The Council also decided to send to the Commission the “Future Group” report as a contribution to the preparation of the next EU multiannual programme on internal security. Commissioner Barrot announced that, in the first half of 2009, he would launch a public consultation exercise on the future of the European space in this field, with the aim of proposing a new multiannual programme at the end of 2009. This plan will follow the Hague programme and will cover the period from 2010 to 2014. (B.C./transl.rt)