Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-20-Speech-2-441"
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"en.20040420.19.2-441"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, once again we are dealing with the forwarding of PNR (Passenger Name Record) data to the United States, but this time in the final phase, since we now have the draft international agreement on the table, which we in this House have called for so many times.
I do not believe we can contribute anything new to the fundamental issue, because our positions throughout all these debates have been made sufficiently clear. In the committee I chair, we have had the opportunity to hear the experts. Mr Bolkestein, the Commissioners involved and also the bodies directly affected, such as the air carriers, have appeared on repeated occasions.
This is our final political pronouncement on the issue during this legislature. Like my group, I believe it would be irresponsible on our part to leave without resolving a blatant case of legal vacuum and legal uncertainty which arises every time that, when travelling to the United States, airlines transmit data on their passengers to the United States authorities, without any type of guarantee or legal basis to protect the treatment and use of that data. This has now been happening for a year. This is the legal framework we are debating today, with all its defects and the criticisms we have made.
On the other hand, nobody can deny that combating terrorism is an absolute priority today and that at the moment, when European society, living in fear of those people who threaten their security and stability, would not understand the absence of cooperation between those countries which are facing up to terrorism. The European Union and the United States share this common objective and it is fundamental, and absolutely urgent and necessary, that we cooperate.
Ladies and gentlemen, I do not see this as giving the United States
as some would have us believe. It is the solution to a real problem which has affected us since transmissions began more than a year ago.
Allow me, Mr President, also to take this opportunity to say that I hope the new Socialist government in Spain – led by Mr Zapatero – defends this agreement in the Council, because I am convinced that the Spanish citizens would prefer to give their personal data to those who need it for these purposes or can obtain it for security reasons, as the United States do, before the people responsible for the massacre on 11 March can carry out another brutal attack, whether it be in my country or in any part of the world.
For all of these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, Mr President, we are going to vote against the report by Mrs Boogerd-Quaak."@en1
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