EU to insist on fair shares in US SWIFT data-sharing deal

Jul 30, 2009, 21:50 GMT

Brussels - The European Union will insist on being given equal access to US data on SWIFT bank transfers when the two sides negotiate a permanent deal on information-sharing as a way of fighting terrorism, the EU's top justice official said Thursday.

The EU will 'ensure full, perfect reciprocity' in access to European and US SWIFT data files, EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot told journalists in Brussels.

That would give the authorities in the EU the right to look at data on bank transfers stored on US servers and to use them to track down terrorist networks, a right the US authorities already have.

Barrot's statement came after EU foreign ministers on Monday mandated Sweden, current holder of the bloc's presidency, to start talks with the US on an interim data-sharing agreement.

   The international system for bank transfers known as SWIFT, which is currently run by computers housed in the US, is set to move most of its servers to Europe in a bid to protect users' privacy.

   But US anti-terror agencies, who have hitherto been able to use the SWIFT data to track terrorist financing because the computers holding those data were on their territory, want to keep that access - a request that would require a new international agreement.

The EU wants to make sure that any future deal is approved by the European Parliament. That will only be possible if the bloc's Lisbon Treaty is brought into force - something not expected to happen until at least the end of the year.

That would a gap of several months while the SWIFT servers are already in Europe but the US could not access them.

To avoid a 'security gap,' EU member states therefore want to set up an interim deal extending the current system while they negotiate a new, more balanced deal with the US.

Some members of the European Parliament have criticized Monday's decision, claiming that it ignored the parliament's rights.

Barrot rejected those accusations on Thursday, saying that the parliament would be fully consulted on any final deal and accusing the critics of 'twisting the truth.'