Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-31-Speech-3-120"
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"en.20070131.20.3-120"2
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".
Mr President, there is an expression in French to describe the surreal confusion of an institution when it finds itself faced with an unexpected situation. We say that it behaves ‘
[like a chicken that has found a revolver]’.
I understand perfectly well that Parliament’s timing is extremely important, and since I am confident that my colleagues will say everything else that needs to be said, I will stop there. I have said the most important things I wanted to say. I honestly thought that I had five minutes.
Frankly, Mr Gloser, without wishing to underestimate you, the least we can say is that your position on this matter is extremely disappointing. I therefore feel entitled to remind you that your mandate is to defend European sovereignty, something of which I have seen little sign so far. As you will have appreciated, we are therefore disappointed and above all worried.
I will talk firstly about PNR data. In a few month’s time, as we know, as you have said and as Mr Frattini has pointed out, the interim agreement on air passenger data will expire. We have no clear information on how it is working. I would also like to point out that when the previous agreement was annulled by the Court, it was based on an assessment of the adequacy of data protection in the United States. This is not the case with the agreement in force, however, even though this assessment is required by the protocol to Convention 108 of the Council of Europe, which is binding on the Member States and hence directly, or at least indirectly, on the European institutions. Having a dubious basis, the agreement has not so far been properly implemented, since the data transmission system that should have been in operation since 2004, the ‘push’ system, is not yet operational, and that is despite the announcements made, most notably last September.
In a spirit of cooperation, I would like to ask certain questions publicly. Firstly, I wonder whether the Commission should have applied more pressure in order to ensure that the ‘push’ system was implemented by the airlines and electronic reservation centres that it monitors. Secondly, I wonder whether effective information for air passengers should have been demanded with regard to the use of their personal data for security purposes, in the same way that information campaigns have been carried out on rights in the event of delays or flight cancellations, for example.
For our part, with regard to this dossier, we are awaiting clarification from the Commission and, above all, from the US authorities on a number of points. I shall mention two of these. First of all, we do not understand why, in order to fight terrorism and organised crime, it should be necessary to have all thirty-four pieces of data listed in the PNR and not just the nineteen pieces of data that Parliament and the data protection authorities had deemed sufficient for that purpose.
Secondly, how can it be that European citizens and passengers could have been classified as dangerous for years, unbeknownst to them, without us demanding anything in return?
I shall now turn to the SWIFT system. This second issue is even more delicate and it concerns the American authorities' access to data relating to financial transfers. My fellow Members have already dealt with a number of points. I shall therefore just express the views of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. At stake here is the protection of our citizens’ fundamental rights and the credibility of our partnership with the United States. It is really incomprehensible that no reciprocal arrangements have been proposed in order to negotiate with a partner, even if it is a friend. Will we one day act in the same way with another partner to the east of our borders, Russia? I would therefore like to say that European sovereignty is not being respected.
In agreement with the political groups, therefore, I have taken the initiative to invite the competent committees of the American Congress and I am awaiting a response."@en1
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