Success of TTIP Said Dependent on Resolution of Strong Disagreements on EU-U.S. Umbrella Privacy Pact
If the EU and U.S. can agree on an umbrella data protection pact, negotiations on other pacts such as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) may become easier, Elmar Brok, European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said at a press conference in Brussels Dec. 17. He and Claude Moraes, of the Socialists and Democrats of U.K., who will publish tomorrow the draft report of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee on U.S. mass surveillance of Europeans, met with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. All three said strong disagreements on data protection remain, but that progress is being made.
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EU lawmakers clarified that Europeans are not happy about what the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has done, Brok said. Parliament believes it would be helpful if talks on the umbrella data protection agreement could be completed as soon as possible, he said. That agreement is more or less ready with the exception of the provisions on the rights of Europeans, he said. European wants to cooperate with the U.S. against terrorism but security must be balanced with privacy and freedom, he said. Once the umbrella agreement is in place, it should be easier to negotiate the TTIP, he said. Brok said it's unlikely Parliament will come to “dangerous answers” such as canceling safe harbor, a process used by U.S. companies to comply with EU privacy rules, he said. Moraes' draft report on spying will recommend reforms aimed at national parliaments, the EU and the trans-Atlantic relationship, he said. It will call for swift agreement on the EU-U.S. data protection umbrella agreement, but will say lawmakers are “very discontented” with safe harbor, which should be suspended, he said. He agreed with Rogers that European citizens benefit from safe harbor, but the report says the agreement doesn't work and needs a revamp, he said.