Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-212"
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"en.20051213.55.2-212"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Clarke, ladies and gentlemen, what people expect of us is that we should not cross swords over who is responsible for what, but instead ensure that their problems are resolved as speedily and promptly as possible, and what they expect of those who shape European policy is that they should not address the issue of how to combat organised crime and terrorism by simply adopting yet another resolution and going back to disputing among themselves, but instead by coming up with results. That was our problem. Here, on the table before us, we have something that might improve the situation – the retention and storage of data. It may not be the answer to everything, but it is an answer.
Our problem was that of how to protect data and how to prevent blameless members of the public being obstructed more than circumstances warranted, and in addressing it, we were reflecting people’s justifiable concerns. Rather than this being allowed to become a never-ending story, what we wanted was a prompt result. People are entitled to have results put in front of them without delay.
I can tell Mr Alvaro that it was for this reason that it was incumbent upon us, even in the short time available to us, to seek and find a solution. I will be quite frank in saying that the one we came up with is not 100% perfect, but it does help now and it does equip the police with instruments that they did not have before. It helps us to do whatever we can to ensure the protection of human life and of data on members of the public.
The Council would have moved no further; the whole thing became a never-ending tale of framework decisions and disputes. Mr Alvaro has accurately described how Parliament kept asking questions, for months on end; it got us nowhere, because the Council was unwilling to give way, until the Commission came up with a proposal that helped us to prepare the way for a consensus. What we have now is a consensus that was reached only because Parliament changed position and made the attempt to bring together various forces. That was the right thing to do, and in doing it we also gained something, in that there is now no doubt about this project’s being subject to codecision. I do not think it relevant to ask whether the same result might have been achieved in some other way and at some other time. What interests me is that this project can be completed at the end of 2005 and can thereby enter into effect.
To this instrument I say ‘yes’; to the arbitrary collection of data I say ‘no’, and that is why I say ‘yes’ to the restricted conditions that we have ended up with. Not every kind of data is included; not everything is capable of being stored, but only a very limited category, on the Internet: storage of movement data applies only to the onset of movement, unsuccessful calls are to be recorded only where this is already in place at national level. Nothing there has changed, and the countries that do not have this sort of data do not have to do this; they are not forced to do anything; they are free. We have reduced the requirements. We have set six months as the minimum period for retention – it is one about which I think we can certainly talk some more – and 24 months if the time limit is to be extended.
I still have a question to put; it is the one raised by Mr Alvaro, and one to which I would very much like an answer, perhaps from Mr Clarke. Commissioner Frattini said, in one consultation, that the 15 years being considered by Poland could not be regarded as an exception. I cannot imagine that it would be either, but I would be rather happier if Mr Clarke were perhaps to say something about this, which cannot be the answer.
I will, of course, say that we did not get the deal on costs that I would have liked us to get, but the costs issue is no longer as relevant as it was at the beginning of the process, since the types of data in the batches are no longer being considered. I do think that changes in the facts during the course of a procedure have to be taken into consideration, and that has an impact on other areas, for example on costs, which are no longer as considerable. The truth of the matter is that we have made enormous improvements to the security of people’s data as regards its monitoring and potential abuses. All the things that Mr Alvaro described have been achieved by our joint effort. It was very laborious, but now the job is done. It has now been set down – and will, it is to be hoped, tomorrow be adopted – that people are to be protected against the misuse of personal data and that provision is made for sanctions and penalties, that no content shall be stored, that access to the data shall be permitted only in cases of serious crime, and more besides. And Parliament remains a key player, with no comitology and revision after two years! The police are given new scope for action, the public enjoy new and extended protection of their data, and Parliament has extended its influence. I think people are entitled to see us taking serious the ways in which they are protected against crime."@en1
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