Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-22-Speech-3-354"
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"en.20100922.24.3-354"2
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"Mr President, we are debating today a general fee of USD 14 for everyone entering the United States. First of all, it seems a bit contradictory to have, on the one hand, a visa waiver programme to facilitate the travel of persons between the European Union and the United States and, on the other hand, to have an obligation for all European citizens to transfer their personal data through ESTA and to pay an additional fee when travelling.
Of course we have to respect the decisions of our American partners, and especially the Congress, but this does not look like a sign of trust and cooperation. When it comes to the protection of borders and efficient security measures, the EU side has shown time and again that it is willing to make things work, sometimes with big difficulties in respect to our own values and citizens. What about the right to free movement when it comes to border controls? What about the right to the presumption of innocence when it comes to security measures? And what about data protection and redress rights when it comes to the collection of personal information?
If it were only about paying USD 14, it would not be such a problem, but the US Department of Homeland Security does not only get the ESTA data collected from travellers, namely numerous contact and identification details, including sensitive information. They also want access to the Passenger Name Records (PNR) in the travel agencies’ reservation systems, which almost includes information about who is sleeping with whom! It is more than unsatisfactory that Commissioner Malmström has not yet got the point that this use of PNR data collection seriously interferes with the rights of citizens and cannot be justified under EU law.
It gets even more problematic when we recognise that the USD 14 fee has to be paid with one of the four major credit cards, whose companies are all based inside the US. I ask myself how you will ensure that those huge data collections will not be the subject of investigations not related to travel operations, at least throughout the duration of the Patriot Act? And I ask you, Commission and Council, whether you are aware of the fact that existing EU law is already undermined by the way we accept US regulation imposed on European citizens?
The Commission and Council, and you also dear colleagues, have an obligation to protect the rights of EU citizens and European law. This is also true for transatlantic relations with the US."@en1
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