The members of the Parliament have adopted a resolution, raising concerns that the program which has been intercepting bank transactions from SWIFT is a violation of European citizens privacy and an abuse of human rights. Furthermore, they stressed the fact that such information transferred to the US authorities should be processed only to fight terrorism and that storage and use must not be disproportionate, according to a press release.
US officials have been requesting bank and transfer data since 2006 as a way to trace funding from individual donors and organisations to terrorist groups. In July 2009, media articles disclosed that a new deal was to be negotiated, as a result of a change in the structure of SWIFT. The agreement will include guarantees on personal data protection. Beatrice Ask, the Swedish Justice Minister, states that the text being negotiated with the US will not be in force for more than 12 months. After that an immediate renegotiation will take place under the Treaty of Lisbon, according to Commissioner Jacques Barrot. Presently, justice and home affairs fall outside the scope of the EC Treaty and are matters for inter-governmental cooperation, but in 2010 the Paliament will be able to get involved in this field of EU lawmaking under the new treaty, which will have been passed by that time.
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect over 8,500 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in more than 200 countries.
Editors notes: Stricter protections and higher control by EU authorities are necessary to calm down worries raised by MPEs on Europeans’ private information falling into the hands of US anti-terror organisations.
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