The Spanish interior minister, representing the European Union presidency, said Thursday he wants a quick resumption of a deal on sharing bank-transfer data with the United States that was struck down earlier this month by the European Parliament, according to dpa. EU member states in November 2009 agreed to let the US access the so-called SWIFT database for terrorist financing investigations until the end of October. But the European Parliament shot it down on February 11, arguing that it failed to ensure EU citizens' rights. "It is clear that SWIFT is a good tool to fight terrorism and it is clear that we cannot stay without it for a long time," Alfredo Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters ahead of a meeting in Brussels with EU interior ministers. "It is clear we have to try it again, that we have to start again a complex negotiation. What I want to propose to the council (of EU ministers) is that we do it rapidly," he added. Rubalcaba assured both EU parliament concerns over privacy and US worries over security "would be taken into consideration." The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a consortium owned by banks and financial institutions that records international money transfers. In 2006, it emerged that US agencies accessed its data from a server the company held in Virginia, raising EU concerns about privacy rights. Since December 31, the intra-European information has been moved to servers in the Netherlands and Switzerland, forcing the US to seek European consent to keep accessing the database. But if the EU fails to engage the US on a new agreement, Washington could strike bilateral deals with Belgium, where SWIFT is legally based, or with the countries where its servers are located. The EU's home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, hopes that scenario will not materialize. "I hope the US will continue to follow the European route," Malmstrom stressed on Wednesday. She said the European Commission was ready to ask EU governments for a mandate to start new talks with Washington, but it is unclear whether the US is willing to play ball. Malmstrom defended the usefulness of the SWIFT data-sharing deal, saying it allowed US intelligence agencies not only to investigate terrorist financing on their own, but also to pass on 835 tips to their colleagues in the EU.
