Parliament lays down red lines for new financial data agreement with US - Main contents
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Today the European Parliament outlined its recommendations to the Council ahead of adoption of the negotiating mandate Friday for the European Commission to start discussions with the US on an interim term agreement on the processing and transfer of financial messaging data to aid the fight against terrorism.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (VVD, Netherlands) EP rapporteur on the transfer of Financial Messaging Data to the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP), said "I very much welcome the new spirit of co-operation, demonstrated by Council and Commission, to engage with the European Parliament and I congratulate them on the positive response to our first requests that have been taken into account in the negotiating mandate but some of the core elements, especially in the long term, are not yet answered."
"The transfer and storage of data in bulk to a foreign power, even when it is to our closest partner the USA, is and remains - by definition - disproportionate and it marks a huge departure from EU legislation and practice. We cannot ignore that we continue transferring massive amounts of personal data each month. We want more targeted transfers and fewer data included.
"Furthermore, the legal basis for the transfers must be beyond reproach. The Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance is not an adequate basis for requests to obtain data for purposes of the TFTP, making it crucial that negotiations focus on finding a solution to make one compatible with the other. I can therefore only urge Council and Commission to address the fundamental policy issues straightaway and I expect a clear and binding commitment by them to undertake all that is required to effectively introduce a durable, legally sound, European solution to the extraction of the requested data on European soil."
"The Commission should compromise on neither "true reciprocity", thus giving the EU access to US financial messaging data, nor on the principle of necessity and proportionality with its US counterpart. We also want to see the specific rights relevant to European and US citizens included while ensuring equality regardless of nationality of any person whose data are processed pursuant to the agreement."
"The EU needs to lay down its own principles on how Europe will cooperate with the US for counter-terrorism purposes in the longer term, including use by law enforcement of data collected for commercial ends. The European legal requirements for the fair, proportionate and lawful processing of personal information are of paramount importance and must always be upheld."