Friday

29th Mar 2024

Court only option against Swift agreement, says MEP

  • Only an EU court could scrap the Swift agreement (Photo: bloomsberries)

The EU commission on Thursday (17 March) downplayed data protection concerns over a deal allowing bulk banking data to be transferred to the US for anti-terrorism investigations, leaving a legal challenge over 'data mining' and privacy breaches as the only option for MEPs willing to continue the fight.

In a "tense" meeting behind closed doors, home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom fended off criticism from MEPs who the previous day had decried the "betrayal" of EU institutions after they had given their consent to the controversial Swift agreement.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Malmstrom presented a review of the first six months since the deal came into force, which "only got us more worried," German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht told this website after the meeting.

"Things have become more clear now, they accept big bulk data being sent over to the US and to be searched via algorithms - which basically means data mining. I said this is unconstitutional, according to the European Court of Justice and the German Constitutional Court," he explained.

Noting that most MEPs now realise they should never have agreed to the deal, Albrecht said there was little the parliament could do at this point.

"We can't cancel the agreement, there is a sunset clause, but that's in five years. The only thing I see possible is to go to court. We are working it out with lawyers and campaigners to see how this can be done," he added.

The Swift affair, which started as a covert programme following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, exploded in 2006, when a story in the New York Times revealed that the Americans were secretly spying on European data using a mirror database of the banking communication company, Swift, located on US soil.

Some data protection provisions were put in place. The EU appointed a French anti-terrorism judge to see how the Americans were keeping up with them, but MEPs and some governments, notably the German one, remained unconvinced.

Once the Lisbon Treaty granted the European Parliament extra powers, the Swift agreement became a 'cause celebre', as MEPs struck it down in February 2010. They did approve an amended version in July, including with the provision of having Europol authorise data requests and a special EU person to oversee how the data is being searched.

Taking note of the concerns expressed by Europol's supervisory body, which cited "too broad requests" for the agency to really be able to assess how appropriate and necessary they were, the commission's review only issues 'recommendations' and generally approves how the US and EU bodies implement the agreement - called the Terrorism Finance and Tracking Program (TFTP) after Swift complained about the negative connotations of having its brand used in this context.

"It is recommended that more feedback is collected and analysed by EU and US authorities in order to provide more verifiable insights into the actual added value of the TFTP through eliciting feed-back from the users of TFTP derived information," the document reads.

During their review, EU experts were informed that "in many cases the value of the TFTP is not recognised as such even by the recipients of TFTP derived information, either in the US or abroad."

"One concrete example was discussed by the review team where a prosecutor in one of the member states had questioned the added value of TFTP derived information, simply because he was not aware that the information provided and used had been derived from the programme," the review reads.

The US side welcomed the commission's report. "We agree with the report's finding that the operation and implementation of the programme is consistent with the Treasury's commitment to enforcing the unprecedented data protection safeguards," David S. Cohen, the official responsible for TFTP within the US department of treasury said in a statement.

"We will carefully consider the EU delegation's recommendations as we move forward in implementing this valuable programme," he added.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us