ALDE is calling for a debate with the Commission on the implementation of the EU-US Terrorism Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) agreement, given the alarming conclusions that have emerged from the second monitoring of the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) of Europol on the transfer of bank data from SWIFT to the US presented in a three page summary of an otherwise secret report. (http://europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu/media/205081/tftp%20public%20statement%20-%20final%20-%20march%202012.pdf)

According to ALDE MEP Sophie in't Veld (D66, The Netherlands), vice President of the Civil Liberties Committee: "The main aim of the agreement was to limit and regulate the transfer of data to the US. However the conclusions seem to indicate that there is no limitation of data transferred, neither geographically, nor in time. If this observation is true, it means that the key objective of the report is not met, and that Europol and the Commission do not carry out their oversight obligations properly. Furthermore, it would seem that the practice that was denounced in last year's report, namely the transfer of data on the basis of oral requests, has not ended".
 
Already at the time of the vote in plenary, ALDE endorsed the EU-US TFTP agreement with considerable reservation. However, it decided to give its support, in return for a commitment from the European Commission to set up a system for the extraction of data on European soil. "This would be necessary to end the bulk transfer of data. However, the Commission to date has not delivered on its promise. Data is still being transferred to the US in bulk", stressed in't Veld.
 
ALDE also insists that the full JSB report is made public, rather than only the three page summary. "Parliament is unable to exercise any meaningful scrutiny without access to this document. If governments get access to bank data of citizens, then citizens have a right to know how the agreement is being implemented. The decision to classify the report is not only contrary to the principles of transparency that the EU itself promotes around the world, it is also against EU law and case law in this area, most recently case law against general exemptions from the transparency rules for international affairs", in't Veld concluded.

ALDE MEP Sarah Ludford (Lib Dems, UK) raised this issue yesterday evening with Commissioner Reding: " If our concerns about lack of transparency in implementation of EU-US data-sharing agreements are not addressed, with MEPs kept fully informed on the results of the inspections and whether there is respect for the safeguards, then it will be very difficult to vote in favour of  future such agreements ". 

Alexander Alvaro (FDP, Germany), EP rapporteur on TFTP said: "This is the second year in a row that the JSB presents conclusions that raise serious concerns about the TFTP agreement compliance with EU data protection standards, suggesting that this agreement is, in reality, a dead letter". 

Note: The oral question is attached.