US prepared to work with EU in fight against terrorism

Madrid meeting outlines next steps in EU-US co-operation.

The United States has accepted that co-operation with the European Union in the fight against terrorism should be based “on a partnership of equals”, officials said after meeting in Madrid yesterday and today (8-9 April).

Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, said that she was “encouraged” by a US pledge to co-operate “on the basis of full reciprocity”. She was speaking after meeting a US delegation led by Eric Holder, the attorney general, and Janet Napolitano, the secretary for homeland security. Officials from Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, also attended the talks.

Stuart A. Levey, the under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, said before the meeting that the Obama administration would work with the EU on the principle of reciprocity but declined to say whether this would include giving EU investigators access to the bank data of US citizens.

The US had been able to review data of bank transfers conducted through the European Swift network until MEPs rejected a new co-operation agreement in February. A mandate by the European Commission for a new agreement includes provisions on reciprocity, including the setting up of an EU version of the US’s Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP).

The two sides are also eager to conclude a new agreement on the exchange of passenger name records (PNR), which includes contact details and credit card numbers of travellers going between the EU and the US.

Both the Swift agreement and the PNR agreement have proved controversial with MEPs, who fear that data protection provisions are insufficient. Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch liberal MEP, said that the European Parliament would discuss a resolution later this month to outline its conditions for backing the agreements.

Reding is seeking a mandate from the Commission by June to open talks with the US on a framework agreement on data protection that would cover a new Swift agreement and a PNR deal.

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Reding said after the Madrid meeting that US officials “understand fully the concerns of European citizens and the European Parliament when it comes to data protection and the need to provide access to judicial redress”.

Guantanamo Bay

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spain’s interior minister, said after meeting US officials that Spain would admit additional inmates from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay. “Our position is clear: we are ready to help the Obama administration to close Guantanamo,” he said.

Eric Holder, the US attorney general, said that Spain had agreed to admit four prisoners. Spain accepted a Palestinian inmate from Guantanamo in February.