BRUSSELS — The European Union clinched Monday, November 30, a key deal allowing the United States to use data about European citizens for anti-terror investigations. "It's decided for nine months," an EU diplomat told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
The deal allows US justice authorities to access data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
The agreement was reached after Austria, Germany and Hungary abstained in a vote rather than opposing the accord, the diplomat said.
The accord would take effect from February 1 for nine months, instead of the year originally planned.
EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Jacques Barrot said the EU would in February seek a longer-term deal with Washington.
The European parliament must rule on the agreement, and can block it but only after it has come into force, he said.
Washington has sought a data access deal with the EU, fearing a security vacuum as SWIFT moves to change the way it operates by the end of the year, depriving US authorities of data.
The SWIFT, based near Brussels, deals with trillions of dollars in global transactions daily between nearly 8,000 financial institutions in 200-plus countries.
SWIFT plans by the end of the year to set up a new database system in the Netherlands and Switzerland and a separate system between Switzerland and the United States.
The change could leave the US reliant on EU nations and their laws for access to the information.
Concerns
Several European countries, specially Austria and Germany, have major reservations about the deal.
"We have major problems with the agreement," Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter told reporters in Brussels.
Vienna is concerned that personal information, possibly including data from electronic bank payments, could be transferred to US authorities and handed on to other governments.
Fekter said they had allowed the deal to pass only to secure the biggest legal protection for their citizenry.
"If we block, there is no legal protection (for citizens)," she said.
"Reduced legal protection is better than no protection at all."
Germany had also voiced concerns about the deal and sought to block it.
The European heavyweight had also been insisting that the deal only lasts for six months.
In 2006, SWIFT admitted that it had provided US authorities with some personal data after the 9/11 attacks for the purpose of terror fight, an incident considered a violation to European civil liberties.
Ever since the 9/11 attacks, the US, under the Bush administration, has secretly been tapping into the vast global database of confidential financial transactions operated by SWIFT.
It has also been taping into the more comprehensive Passenger Name Record database which is created by global travel reservation services that handle reservations for most airlines as well as for Inte sites.
Source: IslamOnline
The deal allows US justice authorities to access data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
The agreement was reached after Austria, Germany and Hungary abstained in a vote rather than opposing the accord, the diplomat said.
The accord would take effect from February 1 for nine months, instead of the year originally planned.
EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Jacques Barrot said the EU would in February seek a longer-term deal with Washington.
The European parliament must rule on the agreement, and can block it but only after it has come into force, he said.
Washington has sought a data access deal with the EU, fearing a security vacuum as SWIFT moves to change the way it operates by the end of the year, depriving US authorities of data.
The SWIFT, based near Brussels, deals with trillions of dollars in global transactions daily between nearly 8,000 financial institutions in 200-plus countries.
SWIFT plans by the end of the year to set up a new database system in the Netherlands and Switzerland and a separate system between Switzerland and the United States.
The change could leave the US reliant on EU nations and their laws for access to the information.
Concerns
Several European countries, specially Austria and Germany, have major reservations about the deal.
"We have major problems with the agreement," Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter told reporters in Brussels.
Vienna is concerned that personal information, possibly including data from electronic bank payments, could be transferred to US authorities and handed on to other governments.
Fekter said they had allowed the deal to pass only to secure the biggest legal protection for their citizenry.
"If we block, there is no legal protection (for citizens)," she said.
"Reduced legal protection is better than no protection at all."
Germany had also voiced concerns about the deal and sought to block it.
The European heavyweight had also been insisting that the deal only lasts for six months.
In 2006, SWIFT admitted that it had provided US authorities with some personal data after the 9/11 attacks for the purpose of terror fight, an incident considered a violation to European civil liberties.
Ever since the 9/11 attacks, the US, under the Bush administration, has secretly been tapping into the vast global database of confidential financial transactions operated by SWIFT.
It has also been taping into the more comprehensive Passenger Name Record database which is created by global travel reservation services that handle reservations for most airlines as well as for Inte sites.
Source: IslamOnline
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