New Swift agreement will protect lives and liberties
Strasbourg, 8th July 2010
Strasbourg, 8th July 2010 -- The new Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme with the USA - finally passed by MEPs - will safeguard both lives and liberties, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, European Conservatives and Reformists group home affairs spokesman, said today.
The vote on the so-called 'Swift agreement', which transfers European banking data to American counter-terrorism officials, ends a long process of negotiations between the EU institutions and the USA. Negotiations were almost abandoned after the European Parliament rejected the temporary agreement in February. Since then, there has been a significant data gap in the fight against transatlantic terror.
Mr Kirkhope has been a strong supporter of the agreement from the start, encouraging the USA not to abandon efforts to reach a deal with the EU.
As a result, the new agreement is a significant improvement on the proposals which were rejected earlier this year. The new agreement includes judicial review, EU oversight, review procedures, blocking mechanisms, and cooperation on a possible EU TFTP system.
MEPs adopted the proposals by 484 votes to 109 with 12 abstentions.
Mr Kirkhope said:
"We've constructed this balanced agreement so that it protects our bank data and legal rights, whilst ensuring that vital and relevant information is passed on to the USA for our joint counter-terrorism efforts.
"The only people who should fear this agreement are terrorists and their financial backers.
"We have managed to secure an excellent deal, but this could have been achieved without rejecting the temporary agreement in February and leaving both Europe and America suffering from a serious intelligence gap.
"This agreement sends the right signals about our resolve in fighting terrorism and our commitment to remaining a strong partner of the United States. The US authorities have been extremely patient while the EU has squabbled amongst itself as it attempts to grapple with the parliament's new powers under the Lisbon Treaty.
"Just over five years on from the London bombings the threat remains serious. We need to tackle this threat with all of the tools available to us and this agreement is a huge step forward for transatlantic security."
Contact Timothy on: +33 (0)3 88 1 75321 or +32 228 45321
ECR Press Office - James Holtum - +32 473 861762
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