In the wake of a series of revelations about US NSA secret surveillance of telecommunications data, the latest reports that the US has been tapping into telephone calls and emails from EU offices in New York, Washington and Brussels seriously threatens transatlantic relations just one week before negotiations are due to begin on a comprehensive free trade agreement (TTIP).
Guy VERHOFSTADT, leader of the Liberal and Democrat Group in the European Parliament, commented: "If confirmed, these revelations are absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped immediately. The Americans must come clean with their EU partners about their covert snooping. It undermines trust in a strategic partnership at a crucial moment in transatlantic relations.
"I cannot see how a crucial trade and investment partnership can be concluded as long as this spectre of spying hangs over us. Barely a week goes by now without some new shocking evidence of intrusive data mining by the US National Security Agency. It poses some very uncomfortable questions for us all. We need urgent reassurances from our US partners. Parliament must launch its own inquiry into the matter, as it did ten years ago into Echelon."
Sophie In't Veld (D66, Netherlands), Vice President of the EP Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee and author of Parliament's reports on the evaluation of counter-terrorism policies and airline data transfers has been following EU-US data privacy issues for a number of years:
"The spying scandal puts Europe to the test. Now Europe has to show its citizens it is able and willing to protect the rights of European citizens. We need to ask the US for clarification. It is unlikely we will get the full facts, but the US government will have to explain their actions to the EU authorities. Not in closed sessions of an expert group, but at the highest political level."
"We have repeatedly urged the European Commission to ensure that EU laws are not overruled by foreign laws on our own EU territory. We can no longer accept the extraterritorial application of US law or the law of any other country on EU territory."
Sarah Ludford (UK LibDems) is Vice President of the EU-US parliamentary delegation and heavily involved in drafting new EU data protection rules:
"The revelations in recent days that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been not only trawling through our metadata from ISPs, telecoms companies and social media sites but also secretly tapping communications from EU diplomatic offices is deeply worrying."
"But it seems the boot is on the European foot too, with not only the UK but possibly also other EU states to some extent, engaged in state surveillance. It will need strong inter-parliamentary cooperation, across the Atlantic but also between MEPs and national MPs, to try to get tighter restraint on snooping by our respective spies."
Bron: politics.be
Guy VERHOFSTADT, leader of the Liberal and Democrat Group in the European Parliament, commented: "If confirmed, these revelations are absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped immediately. The Americans must come clean with their EU partners about their covert snooping. It undermines trust in a strategic partnership at a crucial moment in transatlantic relations.
"I cannot see how a crucial trade and investment partnership can be concluded as long as this spectre of spying hangs over us. Barely a week goes by now without some new shocking evidence of intrusive data mining by the US National Security Agency. It poses some very uncomfortable questions for us all. We need urgent reassurances from our US partners. Parliament must launch its own inquiry into the matter, as it did ten years ago into Echelon."
Sophie In't Veld (D66, Netherlands), Vice President of the EP Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee and author of Parliament's reports on the evaluation of counter-terrorism policies and airline data transfers has been following EU-US data privacy issues for a number of years:
"The spying scandal puts Europe to the test. Now Europe has to show its citizens it is able and willing to protect the rights of European citizens. We need to ask the US for clarification. It is unlikely we will get the full facts, but the US government will have to explain their actions to the EU authorities. Not in closed sessions of an expert group, but at the highest political level."
"We have repeatedly urged the European Commission to ensure that EU laws are not overruled by foreign laws on our own EU territory. We can no longer accept the extraterritorial application of US law or the law of any other country on EU territory."
Sarah Ludford (UK LibDems) is Vice President of the EU-US parliamentary delegation and heavily involved in drafting new EU data protection rules:
"The revelations in recent days that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been not only trawling through our metadata from ISPs, telecoms companies and social media sites but also secretly tapping communications from EU diplomatic offices is deeply worrying."
"But it seems the boot is on the European foot too, with not only the UK but possibly also other EU states to some extent, engaged in state surveillance. It will need strong inter-parliamentary cooperation, across the Atlantic but also between MEPs and national MPs, to try to get tighter restraint on snooping by our respective spies."
Bron: politics.be
