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Transatlantic relations
April 25, 2007 12:00 AM
By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
Sarah Ludford (ALDE). - Mr President, on a parliamentary visit to Washington last week, we learned more about the high-level contact group on security than we did in Brussels. Thank goodness for the freedom of information culture in the United States! We also learned about renewed transatlantic discussions among officials on the legal basis for rendition. Congressmen and MEPs must not only be informed but also included in that debate.
The tactics of the Global War on Terrorism have failed, according to Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism chief. He said yesterday that al-Qa'ida had not only survived the six-year onslaught, but possessed momentum.
We must certainly seek to build a common transatlantic justice and travel area in which there is maximum information-sharing. However, we must also insist on maximum safeguards and respect for fundamental rights. If the information shared is based on dubious profiling or data-mining exercises, or if it is tainted by torture, what value does it have? As one of the officials in Washington said in that refreshingly direct American manner, 'garbage in, garbage out'. The potential damage to individual rights is enormous.
We must have more cooperation between the US Congress and the European Parliament in order to bring about democratic accountability and the desired goal of a transatlantic Schengen-type zone.
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