TCS Daily - The State of Transatlantic Ties - by Olivier Guitta

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The State of Transatlantic Ties - by Olivier Guitta

Even though recent headlines have portrayed a rift between Europe and the US regarding terrorism issues, one shouldn't jump to conclusions. While the CIA "black sites" (unofficial jails installed mostly in Eastern Europe) issue has somewhat poisoned the public debate in Europe, as with many issues, such is often posturing by European politicos for the sake of the public. Indeed, behind the scenes, European governments are still by and large quietly cooperating with the US. This trend has actually accelerated since the London bombings of July 2005.Under its Container Security Initiative, the United States had secured permission from some EU countries including France and Germany to deploy specially trained US Customs Service officials to select European ports to monitor shipping manifests and inspect cargo bound for the United States. But most European governments refused implementing background checks and biometric devices for seafarers. Europeans also denied US initiative to share information about the ultimate ownership of vessels.

In May 2004, the United States and EU reached an agreement permitting airlines operating flights to or from the United States to provide US authorities with passenger name record (PNR) data in their reservation and departure control systems within 15 minutes of a flight's departure. This accord formalizes a practice in place since March 2003 that remains controversial because of fears that it compromises EU citizens' data privacy rights; the most contentious issues relate to the length and type of data stored. This agreement has now been declared illegal by European Court of Justice. In June 2003, the United States and the EU signed two treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance (MLA) to help simplify the extradition process, and facilitate prosecutorial cooperation. In negotiating these treaties, the US death penalty and the extradition of EU nationals posed particular challenges. Most of the agreements between the US and the EU have come about without discussion in local parliaments or the European Parliament and local polls in Europe show they are not supported by the majority of the population who see these as an illegal US intrusion into European Privacy Laws.