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MEPs score in new SWIFT deal, but stronger global privacy rules vital
June 28, 2010 11:15 AM
EU governments and the European Parliament are reaching agreement on a new EU-US agreement on access to European banking data ('SWIFT' agreement).
As ministers from the 27 states prepare to approve the deal in Brussels today, with MEPs set to vote in Strasbourg next week, Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford commented:
"This revised SWIFT agreement is a major improvement on the interim deal that the European Parliament rightly rejected in February. Thanks to MEPs, citizens' data privacy will be better protected than if left to the tender mercies of the European Commission and EU governments."
"We have insisted that the bulk transfer of information be a transitional solution only. The EU must develop its own capacity to filter and extract data in Europe, obviating both worryingly large block handovers and an absurd reliance on the US to detect terrorists plotting on our territory."
"But we cannot keep fire-fighting like this on every data transfer deal. The SWIFT controversy has proved the urgent need for an overarching transatlantic or even global privacy data protection agreement with decent safeguards against misuse. MEPs have called for this for many years, and the SWIFT experience of MEP power should convince governments and the European Commission to get a move on with it."
ENDS
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