BRUSSELS - The European Union approved on Thursday an agreement authorizing the transfer of bank data of its citizens to the United States in the context of the fight against the financing of terrorism, after hard negotiations with Washington to guarantee its protection.
The text, endorsed by a large majority by the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, will allow the US Treasury to have access again, from August 1, to the financial data of 8.000 institutions and banks in 200 countries managed by the company Swift , headquartered in Brussels.
"We have obtained a good agreement which respects a fair balance between the imperative of guaranteeing the security of citizens in the face of the terrorist threat and that of guaranteeing respect for their fundamental rights and civil liberties", commented the President of the European Commission. José Manuel Barroso.
The terms of this agreement are a victory for MEPs because it has enabled them to assert the new decision-making powers which the Lisbon Treaty has given them in the EU.
The use of Swift information has been a sensitive issue in Europe for years.
The Americans began using them after the September 11, 2001 attacks and were able to dismantle several suspected terrorist networks, European officials admit. But the secret transfers of this data were only revealed in 2006, causing a big scandal.
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However, the agreement still gives rise to reservations. "It allows a lot more information to be transmitted than necessary, because we cannot be more selective", lamented in an interview with AFP the European data controller Peter Hustinx.
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Suite and source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 74NFzQZG8A
I dream or that means that the American government will be able to know the information of all the European companies ... of which, for example: Airbus Industry large competitor of Boeing? Knowing his bank details, it will be a little easy for Boeing to seal off his competitor on the X or Y contract and take advantage of him, right? Having access to bank data is purely and simply industrial theft!
On Euronews a guy said: "don't worry there will always be AN EMPLOYEE from the European Union to check if there is no drift" ... An employee, is it a joke or what? There will be 80 million data transmitted per month from the same channel ...
The fight against terrorism has a good back ... and when is the converse?
Is Obamat ultimately just the same pawn as bush was?