Spying affair and the TTIP free trade agreement

12.11.2013

Question for written answer E-012850-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Angelika Werthmann (ALDE)

European citizens have reacted to the ‘spying affair’ with a great deal of anger and concern. Awareness of how valuable an individual’s own data clearly are is growing in Europe, and many people do not seem to want their data to become a commodity in the globalised world.

1. Can the Commission give a detailed opinion on the question of why negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have been resumed despite the current serious damage to the relationship of trust between the EU and the US?

2. What arguments would the Commission consider sufficient to allay the concerns of people who actually want clarity on data protection, particularly in such an extensive free trade agreement?

OJ C 231, 17/07/2014