EU adopts reports on cooperation with US on home affairs

The European Commission Wednesday adopted the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) evaluation report with the US and a report on the joint review of the US Passenger Name Record (PNR) Agreement. A report was also adopted on a European Terrorist Finance Tracking System (TFTS), concluding that the establishment of such a system is not expected at this stage. Cecilia Malmstr?m, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, told a press conference that "The TFTP and PNR agreements regulate the transfer and use of personal data, and provide effective safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of European citizens. " "We have taken the allegations very seriously of possible US access to financial data outside the scope of the TFTP agreement and, as promised to the European Parliament and the European citizens, we have asked the US to shed full light on this issue" she said. "Today indeed we adopted a number of reports and documents on the UE-US cooperation on the Home affairs and justice area and this included communication developed jointly by Vice-president Reding, myself and High Representative Ashton, sitting out the challenges and risks following the revelation of the US intelligence collection program as well as the next steps to be taken to address this concern," she noted. "We put forward today an agenda for how the US can work with the European Union to build trust to reassure the citizens that their data will be protected. In order to build trust we need to do a number of issues. We are, as you know, working in data protection agreement within the EU, we are working on an umbrella agreement with the United States," she said. "We are also discussing with the US how the ongoing reform discussions in the Congress and the Senate in Washington can also build a solution to the concerns that the European citizens have," added Malmstrom