Officials from the European Commission and the United States are discussing the prospects for a long-term agreement on sharing bank data for the purposes of counter-terrorism after a vote in the European Parliament last Thursday (11 February) that struck down interim arrangements. 

A temporary agreement between the EU and the US about sharing information on bank transfers, which had been in place since 1 February, was nullified by MEPs, using powers acquired under the Lisbon treaty. The MEPs were concerned about privacy and upset about being left out of the negotiations with the US by the Council of Ministers and the Commission.

The Commission has suspended drafting a mandate for negotiations on a long-term agreement until the US indicates whether it will pursue bilateral deals to gain access to European bank transfer data held by SWIFT, a consortium of international banks. SWIFT is incorporated in Belgium and has servers in the Netherlands and Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU. SWIFT said in a statement that it would continue dealing with US requests for access to data through the judicial mechanisms in place in individual member states and Switzerland.

Washington visit

The US government said it was “disappointed” by the rejection, which it described as “a setback for US-EU counter-terror co-operation”. A US official said that the administration was now assessing its options.

Leaders of the European Conservatives and Reformists grouping in the Parliament are currently in Washington, DC for consultations with US officials.

MEPs voted 378 to 196 against the interim agreement, with 31 abstentions. Their resolution rejecting the interim agreement said that it “violates the basic principles of data-protection law”.

Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the Parliament, said: “We now expect the US and EU governments to come to terms with our determination and call on the Commission to immediately start negotiations on a better long-term deal.”

Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs, said that any long-term agreement would include “very ambitious safeguards for privacy and data protection”.