Malmström will today hold a key meeting in Strasbourg with centre-right politicans in the European People's Party (EPP) group, who could hold the fate of the controversial agreement in their hands. In Parliament’s February rejection of SWIFT, enough EPP members opposed the EU-US deal to ensure that negotiators returned to the table.
The latest deal stipulates that all banking data sent to investigators in the US must be based on an anti-terrorist investigation, and no random scanning or profiling of EU citizens’ provate data will be allowed.
The agreement has one eye on the future, giving Europe the opportunity to improve its own capabilities in this area. "The European Commission will carry out a study into the possible introduction of an equivalent EU system allowing for a more targeted transfer of data,” it says.
Speaking to EurActiv, a spokesperson for Malmström said that “major progress” had been made in the revised agreement - particularly on the sensitive issue of banking data transfers – and all the doubts expressed by the Parliament had been addressed.
Not so, argued German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht. He told EurActiv that the latest agreement was, if anything, “even worse” than its predecessor, and had not taken MEPs’ concerns into account.
However, he acknowledged that Malmström’s intervention could be decisive in “turning” a number of centre-right MEPs. “There is a real risk this could pass,” he said.
If a sufficient number of EPP members back the deal - in combination with the strongly pro-SWIFT MEPs of the conservative ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) group plus various centre-left and independent MEPs, it could be enough to ensure a slim majority when the Parliament’s 751 members come to vote.
'SWIFT' about-turn: sign of a weak Parliament?
Albrecht expressed dismay at the prospect of this about-turn, arguing that it would weaken the Parliament’s image in the eyes of EU citizens.
The February rejection of SWIFT was widely viewed as a significant show of strength, demonstrating the EU assembly's new-found power under the Lisbon Treaty to influence international agreements.
However, Albrecht argued that if centre-right MEPs now back the new deal, it will prove that their February stance was a mere muscle-flexing exercise and not a show of political conviction, something which could “damage people’s trust” in the EU’s only elected institution, Albrecht cautioned. “They seem to want to convince themselves it’s a better agreement,” he said, adding that this was “crazy”.
The Commission hopes the Parliament can vote on SWIFT as soon as possible, as there is a “security gap” which needs to be closed.
If MEPs are satisified that the new document can be voted on, this could take place as early as next month’s July plenary session in Strasbourg.
