European governments are set to reject the European Parliament's call to postpone the entry into force of the SWIFT financial data-sharing agreement with the United States, dpa quoted European Union officials as saying today. On Thursday parliament chief Jerzy Buzek said he would ask the EU member states to wait until the assembly gives its opinion on the deal, in a vote scheduled for February 9 or 10. But a source in the EU council - the institution where national governments meet - told the German Press Agency dpa that the agreement "will come into force provisionally" on the original date of February 1. He specified that the "definite" entry into force of the deal, however, will depend on the parliament's approval. If it decides to reject it, the SWIFT agreement will fall completely. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a Belgium-based consortium owned by banks and financial institutions that records every international money transfer. Its database is often useful for anti-terrorism investigations, particularly in the wake of the attempted suicide bomb attack on a US-bound plane in December. The document will only be sent to members of parliament (MEPs) on Monday, after a formal decision by EU foreign ministers in Brussels. The assembly's justice committee is scheduled to start examining it on Tuesday.
