US links EU security partnership to bank data deal

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Dus als het EU-parlement morgen beslist dat we de data niet langer
geven, of niet langer in de huidige vorm (vaak krijgen de Amerikanen van
Swift de data van alle transfers op een bepaalde dag, omdat ze het niet
gedetaileerder kunnen - een nieuwe database zou dit kennelijk niet
oplossen) dan komt de Atlantische Oceaan droog te staan (wow, lange zin)

Groet / Cees

US links EU security partnership to bank data deal
http://euobserver.com/9/29427/?rk=1
VALENTINA POP

08.02.2010 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – US national security advisor James Jones on
Saturday (6 February) reassured Europe that the transatlantic
partnership continues to be strong, but underlined the need for the
European Parliament to allow American investigators to access EU banking
data to track terrorism funding.

US national security advisor James Jones (l) and Russian foreign
minister Sergei Lavrov (m) (Photo: Munich Security Conference/Kai Moerk)

"It has become fashionable in some quarters to suggest that the United
States has somehow neglected the trans-Atlantic partnership. But
...Europe today is our indispensable partner," Mr Jones said at the
Munich security conference, a yearly forum for high-level officials to
air their views on international security and defence matters.

He indicated that there were some potential glitches in the
relationship. He mentioned a crucial vote due in the European Parliament
this Thursday (11 February), which could derail an existing agreement
allowing the US to track intra-European banking transactions in the
search for terrorism funding.

"This programme has safeguards. It protects privacy. It has prevented
terrorist attacks and saved lives, including here in Europe. And with
the European Parliament's support for sustaining this important
agreement, the United States looks forward to further co-operation in
this area with our European partners to protect our citizens on both
sides of the ocean though an agreement called the Terrorist Finance
Tracking programme," Mr Jones said.

His public calls come after last week's vote in a key EU parliamentary
committee for the deal to be scrapped because of what MEPs consider
insufficient data protection safeguards and because of an institutional
quarrel with member states, who negotiated the agreement.

US foreign policy chief Hillary Clinton has held phone conversations
with both the European Parliament's president Jerzy Buzek and her EU
counterpart Catherine Ashton on the matter.

Ms Clinton also wrote a letter to Mr Buzek together with US treasury
secretary Timothy Geithner, in which they "convey their hope" that the
Thursday vote will be positive, parliament sources told EUobserver.

The US officials said they supported the view of the parliament in its
discussion with the council of ministers, that EU states should disclose
all the relevant information to the legislature relating to negotiations
for a final agreement on bank data.

EU ambassadors in Brussels are set to hold a special meeting on the
matter on Monday (8 February). If no concessions were made from the side
of the council, parliament sources say, the agreement is likely to be
voted down on Thursday.

Spanish bonanza

The state of EU-US relations hit the headlines last week when President
Barack Obama indicated he would not attend a bilateral summit due to
take place in Madrid in May.

The US State Department said that Mr Obama's decision, widely portrayed
as a snub, was partly due to institutional confusion caused by the EU's
new Lisbon Treaty.

Spanish foreign minister Angel Miguel Moratinos, also present at the
Munich gathering, praised the transatlantic relationship. "The new
Europe still needs the US, and the US will always have in Europe its
most reliable and capable partner," he said.

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