Rapporti verbatim tad-dibattiti

Il-Ħamis, 11 ta' Frar 2010 - Strasburgu

6.4. Ftehim UE/Stati Uniti tal-Amerika dwar l-ipproċessar u t-trasferiment ta’ Data ta’ Messaġġi Finanzjarji mill-Unjoni Ewropea lejn l-Istati Uniti tal-Amerika għall-finijiet tal-Programm dwar ir-Rintraċċar tal-Finanzjament tat-Terroriżmu (A7-0013/2010, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert) (votazzjoni)

– Before the vote:

  Joseph Daul, au nom du groupe PPE. – Monsieur le Président, au nom du groupe PPE, je souhaite proposer à notre Assemblée le renvoi du rapport de Mme Hennis-Plasschaert en commission des libertés civiles, de la justice et des affaires intérieures, conformément aux articles 63 et 175 du règlement. Nous avons entendu hier le Conseil et la Commission. Tous deux ont souhaité que le Parlement leur accorde un délai supplémentaire afin de pouvoir répondre aux demandes que nous avons nous-mêmes formulées sur l'accord intérimaire.

Chers collègues, ce Parlement a raison de demander des comptes au Conseil et à la Commission, mais aussi aux États-Unis. C'est notre responsabilité – encore plus avec le traité de Lisbonne – et nous devons l'assumer. Ce Parlement a raison de mettre sur le même plan sécurité des personnes et respect de la vie privée, car l'un ne peut pas aller sans l'autre. En vous demandant de différer légèrement notre vote, le groupe PPE ne remet pas en cause ses exigences ni l'autorité du Parlement. Il demande de renvoyer la balle dans le camp de la Commission, du Conseil et des États-unis pour une période très courte.

En effet, mon groupe propose au Parlement de limiter le temps imparti au Conseil en exigeant que les éléments requis nous soient fournis non pas en mai comme le demande le Conseil, mais dès le mois prochain. Nous pourrions ainsi définitivement trancher dès mars prochain. Cela n'est pas irréaliste. Cela l'est d'autant moins que nous avons appris hier soir que la commissaire Malmström s'engageait à proposer, dès la semaine prochaine ou dès la prochaine mini-session à Bruxelles, à savoir dans dix jours, un nouveau mandat de négociation pour l'accord définitif. Nouveau mandat en février, vote du Parlement en mars, voilà ce que je vous propose.

  Timothy Kirkhope, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Mr President, I would like to support the EPP’s proposal for postponement on the vote. I believe that this is a sensible and rational course of action; the House may have new powers but we must exercise them in a measured and responsible way. The Council has tried to appease Parliament, perhaps not sufficiently yet, but they have also apologised for their mistakes during this process. So I think we should now take some time to cooperate and work together on moving forwards and towards a new long-term agreement as well. I believe it is in the best interests of the House’s reputation, the future of our international agreements and the security of Europe that we now give ourselves this time.

  Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, rapporteur. − Mr President, my recommendation is to vote against postponement as conditions for postponement have not been met by the Council. This House cannot keep falling for fake promises; the ball was in the Council’s court but it failed to act appropriately and effectively. The Council has known about this problem for over two years and has done nothing in that time to deal with it. By withholding our consent on the interim agreement the security of European citizens is not being compromised. Targeted transatlantic data exchange will remain possible; the rule of law is crucially important though currently our laws are being broken and under this agreement with its provisional application they would continue to be broken. Parliament should not be complicit in this.

Finally, the last point, if the US Administration would propose to US Congress something equivalent to this to transfer in bulk bank data of American citizens to a foreign power we all know what the US Congress would say – don’t we?

(Applause from the Left)

  Cecilia Malmström, Member of the Commission. − Mr President, the Commission would support a postponement of the vote. It will give the new Commission a chance to create a new momentum on this difficult dossier and it would also give the European Parliament more time to see how we intend to process this further.

The Commission is committed to a very ambitious timetable. I would like to confirm what Mr Daul said – that the Commission will adopt the mandate for a new long-term agreement on 24 February if you agree to postpone the vote. I am ready to come to you personally the same day to present the mandate. The Council will get it the day after in Brussels in order to consider it. I am sure that the Spanish Presidency will do everything they can to agree to the mandate as soon as possible. The Commission will then immediately launch negotiations with the US to try to conclude them as soon as possible.

We will, within those powers, keep the European Parliament fully informed at all stages of the process. My goal is to achieve a new agreement with very ambitious safeguards for privacy and data protection. I think we can build trust on both sides of the Atlantic for tracking financing, but of course this has to be done while fully assuring the protection of civil liberties and fundamental rights.

  Martin Schulz (S&D). - Herr Präsident! Eine Frage an die Kommission, eine Nachfrage an Frau Malmström: Habe ich das richtig verstanden, Frau Malmström, dass Sie die Vertagungsbeantragung der EVP in Ihrer Eigenschaft als Kommissarin unterstützen? Ich möchte Sie fragen, warum Sie diese Forderungen nicht schon in Ihrer sechsmonatigen Arbeit als Europaministerin der schwedischen Präsidentschaft unterstützt haben. Dann bräuchten wir heute über diese Vertagung nicht zu diskutieren.

  President. − Would you like to answer, very briefly?

(The Commissioner declined to do so.)

(Parliament rejected the request to refer back to committee the report)