Major German parties have rallied against an EU-US agreement on access to sensitive bank transaction data as a threat to society.
EU foreign ministers yesterday (27 July) gave a mandate to the Swedish EU Presidency to negotiate a temporary agreement with the US regarding access to data held by SWIFT, a company located in Belgium which manages transactions between banks.
The move was described as necessary for fighting international terrorism.
The German Greens are at the forefront of opposition to the plans to share such sensitive information, stressing that the outgoing Commission was trying to bypass the European Parliament.
The German federal government played down the issue, insisting that the agreement was only "temporary".
But even parties from the governing coalition called on German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to intervene. The centre-left SPD (Social Democratic Party) and the centre-right CSU (Christian Democratic Union) asked the government to scrap the preliminary agreement with the US and reject the negotiating mandate.
CSU MEP Markus Ferber said automatic disclosure of sensitive personal data "must not be allowed," while MEP Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler (SPD) insisted there was no reason why the issue should be pushed through in such a "reckless manner".
The German government reacted to the political pressure with an "appeasement" strategy. Cabinet representatives insisted that there is a necessity to monitor and eradicate the financial channels of terrorist networks, and that "small" bank customers need not fear the US law enforcers' screening.
In the meantime, Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot, who is responsible for the justice, freedom and security portfolio, issued a statement downplaying the scope of the possible decision concerning the access to SWIFT data.
"It is no question of giving the US a blank cheque as some critics seem to suggest. As it is already the case, the US authorities would continue to temporarilyy access the relevant data only after legal verification and under strict judicial control," Barrot stated.
He added that the agreement in question was only temporary, insisting that a definitive agreement with the US would be negotiated with the European Parliament's involvement once the Lisbon Treaty had entered into force.
"It would be extremely dangerous at this stage to stop the surveillance and the monitoring of information flows," Barrot insisted.
German weekly Die Zeit pointed out that US intelligence services have had a long-standing interest in SWIFT data. In 2006, the US forced the company's management to disclose transaction data to the CIA, as the server is located on US soil. The paper adds that in an effort to counter this, the company is planning to relocate its server for European clients to Switzerland. However, such efforts could prove futile, as Brussels is planning to make the information available to the US anyway.
