Madrid: The United States and the EU on Friday
said they were hopeful of reaching a new deal that would allow
US access to the personal data of Europeans in anti-terrorism
probes.
"There are issues that we still have to work through," US
Attorney General Eric Holder said following an EU-US meeting
of justice and interior ministers in Madrid.
But "I think we are committed to being creative in
crafting solutions to the issues that still divide us... I am
confident that in a relatively short period of time the TFTP
will once again be active," he told a news conference,
referring to the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme.
In February European Union lawmakers blocked a key
agreement of the TFTP that allowed US access to information
from the interbank money transfer system SWIFT to track
suspect finances.
All 27 EU nations had endorsed the deal, and they and the
United States warned that the negotiating breakdown could
spark a security gap.
The deputies` main concern was that personal information,
including data from electronic bank payments, would be used by
US authorities, held for too long and handed on to other
governments.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Viviane Reding said both
sides agreed today to seek a "mandate" to negotiate a new
deal.
"The Americans will go for a negotiation mandate, the
Europeans will go for a negotiation mandate," she told the
news conference.
On the EU side, "there has been a mandate which has been
put on the table by the Commission. It is up to the (EU)
Council now to decide on this mandate so that we can start
discussions with our American counterparts."
US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said
Washington "appreciates and embraces the issue of data privacy
and how data is to be collected and stored.
"I believe we can reach an agreement with the full
appreciation of the privacy issues involved, which are issues
that are important to the United States as well as to the
European Union."
PTI
