EU Parliament: blocks US illegal powers to monitor EU bank transactions which infringe on European privacy laws

The European Parliament has blocked the continuation of a nine-year, once-secret (illegal) agreement that allows US authorities to monitor the financial transactions of EU citizens. The Parliament voted yesterday by an overwhelming majority to reject the deal, with 378 MEPs voting against the deal and only 196 voting in favour.

During its debate, MEPs expressed anger that the Parliament was only presented with the deal after the fact and was not consulted during the making of it.

"Parliament's right to consent should not be used as a retrospective tool", said UK MEP Timothy Kirkhope. "We are finally getting assurances from Council and Commission [on data protection issues] but we now need some time before proceeding further in our considerations." The MEPs urged the EU and US to come to a deal that offered better privacy protection and constituted a better deal for the EU. MEPs reiterated that any new agreement must comply with Lisbon Treaty requirements, and in particular the Charter of Fundamental Rights."

"Council has not been tough enough on data protection" said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who was the Parliament's rapporteur on the issue. She said that "the rules on data transfer and storage provided for in the interim agreement were not proportionate to the security supposedly provided," according to the statement.

German MEP Martin Schulz said in the Parliamentary debate that the deal was "a mistake and EU governments … thought they could get away with such a poor agreement, which is not in line with fundamental rights", he said. "How will data be retained, how will it be stored, can I have access to it, when it is going to be deleted? … This is a bad agreement that we simply cannot sign up to."

The European Commission, which brokered the rejected deal with the US, has told the Parliament that it will adopt a new set of draft guidelines in the coming weeks. Those guidelines "will address the European Parliament and Council's concerns [and ensure] the utmost respect for privacy and data protection," said the Parliament statement.

Note EU-Digest: This is good news for democracy in Europe and an indication that the EU Parliament is not a rubber stamp Parliament anymore. They are doing what they are supposed to do - protecting the citizens of the EU. It is also important for the US to realize they should do a better job at coordinating their own security resorces (as was proven during the recent airline terrorism event in Detroit involving a Delta aircraft coming from Amsterdam) before they infringe on other countries privacy rights.

For more: European Parliament blocks US powers to monitor EU bank transactions | Pinsent Masons LLP