Press release
PNR: Frattini updates MEPs on talks with USA
Justice and home affairs - 13-09-2006 - 12:52
The US administration is ready to accept the EU's request for a two-stage procedure in the talks on the transfer of passenger name records (PNR), Commission vice-president Franco Frattini told members of the Civil Liberties Committee on Tuesday. MEPs agreed with the timetable put forward by Council and Commission representatives but were keen that the substance of the agreement be improved and they voiced concern about the unclear ratification process.
The idea proposed by the Council to US officials during their first negotiating meeting last Friday is for the two sides to sign an initial interim agreement to run until November 2007 - in which the conditions on data protection and transfer of PNR would remain unchanged - and start immediate negotiations for a further definitive agreement to run from 2008, on which the content can be renegotiated. "The US said it was prepared to enter into negotiations of substance" on this second agreement, said Mr Frattini. A Commission representative was present on Friday to assist Council during the negotiations.
Asked by rapporteur Sophie In 't Veld (ALDE, NL) whether the US was willing to make its commitments on the protection and use of data legally binding, Mr Frattini admitted that this would not be easy for the first short term agreement, since it would require the US Congress to ratify these conditions (known as the 'undertakings', which are now in an annex and not part of the legal text). Stavros Lambrinidis (PES, EL) responded: "You have told us enough... the US is seeking to turn the issue of making the undertakings legally binding into a problem (...) We agreed to sign the short term agreement while keeping the content unchanged but now the US is not so interested in signing and is dragging its feet". He claimed the American position was a form of "blackmail".
Ratification procedure
Under the treaties, Mr Frattini explained, an interim international agreement signed by the EU with a third country can come into force immediately, without waiting for the ratification process to be concluded: "The need to be ratified does not prevent it from taking effect immediately", he said. Ewa Klamt (EPP-ED, DE) was surprised that no ratification by national parliaments would be required on such a sensitive topic and Ignasi Guardans (ALDE, ES) added: "only ratification can give legitimacy to your work, Mr Frattini. You need the parliaments’ blessing (...) so they take responsibility for it".
Time pressure
Commissioner Frattini warned of the risks of not reaching a PNR deal with US to replace the pact annulled by the EU Court of Justice, which is due to expire on September 30. He explained that there is not enough time for negotiations at present and that he had urged US officials to accept merely a change in how the deal is framed legally. Most MEPs agreed that a bad agreement is better than no agreement at all. If no deal is reached this month, airlines will continue to send data requested by the United States but without the safeguards provided by the deal, stressed Mr Frattini. "I am aware that it is in our interest to avoid bilateral agreements", said Martine Roure (PES, FR), "but it is our responsibility to ensure that EU citizens can enjoy at least the same level of data protection as US citizens".
Lastly, Mr Frattini said that positive or voluntary profiling should be seen as a benefit, as "it can mean you spend less time at borders". The Commission will therefore consider submitting a draft directive on this direction. "We will present a feasibility study next spring", he said. Lastly, he argued that giving people the chance to register their personal data in a database voluntarily would allow them to cut down the number of controls and even diminish the risk that they would suffer ethnic profiling.
11/09/2006
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
In the Chair : Jean-Marie CAVADA (ALDE, FR)
In the Chair : Jean-Marie CAVADA (ALDE, FR)
REF.: 20060908IPR10489