MEPs set to reject banking access agreement SWIFT

12.00.00pm GMT Thu 4th Feb 2010

The European Parliament's justice & civil liberties committee is expected this afternoon to reject the interim agreement concluded by EU states with the US, to allow US authorities access to mass information on financial transactions of Europeans and routed through Europe.

This is the so-called 'SWIFT' agreement named after the name of the company which manages the flow, and otherwise called the 'TFTP' agreement after the name of the US Treasury's Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme. It has been provisionally applied but needs MEP consent to stay in force.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman Sarah Ludford MEP said:

"The essential fight against terrorism can and must be conducted without unduly compromising respect for privacy. Major data protection weaknesses in the accord - such as the volume of information transferred, length of storage time, potential transfer to other agencies and third countries, and lack of rights to be informed or compensated for wrongful use - make it a bad deal for EU citizens."

"If the committee votes for these reasons to reject the agreement, the EU Commission and Council should act with speed to involve MEPs in negotiating guidelines for a long-term agreement which has better civil liberties safeguards. If they respond in this way, there is a chance that the Parliament could postpone its plenary vote and allow the interim agreement to remain in force."

"In any case, security need not be compromised as US and EU authorities can use bilateral channels under legal assistance arrangements to secure information vital to counter-terrorism investigations, as the US ambassador has acknowledged."

ENDS