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| Big Brother is watching EU |
Tonio Borg - the Malteste commissioner in charge of health and consumer affairs - told the European Parliament in Strasbourg: "Programmes such as the so-called Prism and the laws on the basis of which such programs are authorised potentially endanger the fundamental right to privacy and the data protection of EU citizens."
He added in off-the-cuff remarks that: "No one should use this special relationship not to obey the law. This is the fine balancing act."
Borg noted on Tuesday that Reding will ask the US for "clarification" on Prism and that she will tackle the scandal with EU interior ministers on 13 June and with MEPs on 19 June.
But some MEPs rounded on him for the absence of top people in Tuesday's debate.
Dutch Liberal Sophie in 't Veld said commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso should have taken a helicopter to Strasbourg given the scale of the affair.
Speaking on Tuesday in plenary, she added that Fisa privacy safeguards do not apply to non-US "foreigners" despite the "special" EU-US ties.
"Foreigners - that's us, that's European citizens," she said.
Read more: EUobserver.com / Justice & Home Affairs / EU breaks silence on US snooping scandal
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