The European Commission has threatened to pull
its controversial program to share passenger name record data with the United
States, following last month's revelations by former National Security Agency
contractor Edward Snowden of alleged systematic U.S. surveillance of European Internet
users and spying on the European Union. According to Reuters, home affairs
commissioner Cecilia Malmström on July 5 made the threat in a letter to U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Treasury Department
undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen.
"Should we fail to demonstrate the
benefits [of the PNR agreement and a second agreement called the Terrorist
Finance Tracking Program] for our citizens and the fact that they have been
implemented in full compliance with the law, their credibility will be
seriously affected and in such a case I will be obliged to reconsider [whether]
the conditions for their implementation are still met," Reuters reported
Malmström as writing. She added that both the U.S. and EU must demonstrate "the
robust safeguards attached to [the agreements] are respected to the full."
Malmström wrote her letter the day after the
European Parliament voted 483-98 (with 65 abstentions) in favor of a package of
measures that included suspending the PNR agreement unless the U.S. government
discloses more information on the extent of its electronic surveillance in
Europe. However, the vote is non-binding and can only take effect if accepted
by the European Commission and EU member states.
Some members of Parliament have proved
consistently hostile to PNR-sharing with the United States since the idea was
first mooted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Along with other
opponents, they object to the surrender to the United States of all PNR data
for EU-based passengers flying to, from or within the United States. However, U.S.
security officials have defended the program, claiming it has proved essential
for foiling terrorist attacks.
The most recent version of the PNR agreement,
valid for seven years, took effect in July 2012. Coincidentally, officials from
Malmström's department on Monday arrived in Washington for a long-scheduled review
of how the United States is treating data it receives under this agreement and the
finance tracking program.