Brussels, 16/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 September, the members of the European Parliament gave their blessing to negotiations for an interim EU-United States agreement allowing the Americans to continue to access banking information from the SWIFT network as part of their fight against terrorism (EUROPE 9969). During a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the EPP-ED and S&D groups agreed to negotiations for a temporary agreement in principle, but demand more involvement of the European Parliament in future negotiations, which must also fully respect European data protection standards. Even though, from a legal point of view, the Parliament has no say in these international negotiations, the sensitive nature of the subject, which impacts closely upon fundamental rights, led the Presidency and the European Commission to give the MEPs solid guarantees.
The Austrian Ernst Strasser (EPP-ED) encouraged the Presidency and Commission in their efforts to conclude an interim agreement. However, any agreement must respect a number of "imprescriptible criteria" to ensure a balance between the safety of the citizens and their rights. "Once the interim agreement is in place, it will be necessary to negotiate a new agreement very quickly", he said. For his part, British Labour member Claude Moraes also acknowledged the need for Europe to negotiate the temporary agreement. " Our group is of the opinion that this agreement should be valid for 12 months only, in order to protect the fragile equilibrium between safety and fundamental rights", he explained. He also raised the issue of the right of European citizens to legal recourse in the event of the misuse of their data by the United States. The Dutch Liberal member Sophia In't Veld, however, protested strongly at the secrecy surrounding current negotiations with the United States. "We are not allowed to know what the Council is doing (...). This attitude is simply not democratic enough", she stressed. She also voiced her regrets that the fact that no clear justification has been provided by the Council as to whether the American programme to fight the funding of terrorism (TFTP- the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program) is doing any good. Lastly, she called for the opinion of the legal service of the Council, which questions the legal basis for the agreement currently under negotiation, to be published. Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany) lamented the fact that the Parliament is excluded from negotiations. "A responsible Parliament must absolutely bring a halt to this procedure, for as long as it is not possible to protect the citizens' rights", he said, speaking out against the "horse trading" which has been carried out as regards the Europeans' rights. Marie-Christine Vergiat (GUE/NGL, France) described the case as being "symptomatic of the practices of violating the rights of the citizens in the name of the fight against terrorism". She added that the EP should call for the "suspension" of the negotiations if they went "too far". She also called into question the work of the French anti-terrorist Judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, who tabled a report earlier this year which concluded that the TFTP is an effective means of fighting terrorism whilst guaranteeing the protection of personal data.
The Swedish Minister for Justice, Beatrice Ask, and the European Commissioner with responsibility for Justice, Jacques Barrot, gave their word that the interim agreement would indeed be limited in time. "The duration of this interim agreement will not exceed 12 months", said Ms Ask. "It is an international agreement, the duration of which cannot exceed a maximum of 12 months, and which should allow for immediate re-negotiation, with a Parliament fully involved, as soon as the Treaty of Lisbon is in force", said Mr Barrot. Lastly, the minister and Mr Barrot agreed that the negotiation of a sustainable agreement should necessarily contain guarantees in terms of data protection. "If we are able genuinely to obtain assurances over data protection, there will be no agreement", he pledged. (B.C./transl.fl)