On June 10, the European Commission voiced its “concern” about the consequences of Prism, the US surveillance program that allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to access the data of non-US citizens, including EU citizens.
Viviane Reding, the Europe’s justice commissioner, was notably quiet and avoided an open clash with the US, apparently more focused on denouncing EU member states that had blocked her personal data protection plan in Luxemburg on June 6.
Still, in talks with American authorities, the commissioner did “systematically” raise the issue of the rights of EU citizens, her spokeswoman said.
Indeed, the revelations from ex-CIA analyst Edward Snowden came in the middle of delicate - and lengthy - negotiations in Europe about how to protect citizens’ privacy in the era of massive data collection.
Discussions on the DPR (Data Protection Regulation) have been ongoing for 18 months and 25 meetings; 3,000 amendments to the regulation have been proposed, a sign of how divided the EU is on the issue.
A few hours before the story was published in the Guardian newspaper, ministers of justice from the 27 member countries were holding a meeting on the subject; had they known about his revelations, they might have come to an agreement.
Britain and the Netherlands believe the Reding project would be too punitive for companies, France is asking for more controls on social networks, while Germany says the text is too vague. But now that the revelations on Prism have come to light, the European capitals can at least agree on one thing: they are all feeling “concerned”.
Read more: US data scandal reveals European vulnerability
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