EU lawmakers seek to block U.S. financial spying
Wed, Oct 23 2013
By
Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament called on Wednesday for
U.S. access to a global financial database in Belgium to be suspended
due to concerns that the United States is snooping on the European
Union, not just combating terrorism.
EU lawmakers voted to freeze Washington's ability to track
international payments because of suspicions that it has abused an
agreement giving it limited access to the SWIFT database.
They worry the United States is covertly drawing additional
information from the database following leaked U.S. documents aired by
Globo, Brazil's biggest television network, indicating that the U.S.
government has secretly tapped into SWIFT.
"We need full transparency, especially with all the NSA revelations,"
said Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberals in the European
Parliament, referring to the U.S. National Security Agency surveillance
made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
"Europe cannot accept that the data of private citizens is being
accessed without anyone knowing about it," Verhofstadt, a former Belgian
prime minister, told Reuters.
Although not binding, the parliament's vote reflects public anger at
reports of NSA spying on European citizens. The European Commission -
the EU executive - and EU governments will still need to approve any
suspension of U.S. access to SWIFT.
The European Commission said a statement that it was "still waiting
for additional written assurances" that the United States is respecting
its agreement with the EU, but had no immediate plans to propose a
suspension of SWIFT to EU members.
"U.S. LAP DOG"
The United States denies any wrongdoing.
David Cohen, the U.S. Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and
financial intelligence, has told EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia
Malmstrom his government has respected the 2010 agreement, according to
an October 9 statement by Malmstrom.
The EU shares data with the U.S. Treasury from SWIFT, which exchanges
millions of financial messages on transactions across the world every
day, but only on a limited basis to help intercept possible terrorism
plots.
The agreement is part of transatlantic cooperation following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.
The parliament in Strasbourg voted 280 in favor and 254 against with
30 abstentions, calling for a suspension until a full inquiry can
clarify the situation.
"The EU cannot continue to remain silent in the face of these ongoing
revelations: it gives the impression we are little more than a lap dog
of the United States," said Jan Philipp Albrecht, a German Green in the
parliament.
Globo's report of U.S. financial spying was among a host of leaks by Snowden that have tested EU-U.S. diplomatic relations.
French newspaper Le Monde reported this week that the NSA had
recorded French telephone data on a huge scale between December 2012 and
January this year. Other reports have accused the U.S. government of
bugging European Union offices.
The parliament's call follows another vote by EU lawmakers for a
tougher data privacy regime including fines for companies such as
Google, Facebook, Yahoo! that violate rules limiting how data is shared
with non-EU countries.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
This file photo taken on June 20, 2007 shows a view of
the Berlaymont building, the European Union Commission headquarters in
Brussels, on the eve of a European Union summit. AFP PHOTO
