Council and Commission ‘knew of US profiling’

The EU has been aware for more than a year that the US was profiling European citizens based on the risk they posed of being terrorists, Finland’s minister for European affairs has told the European Parliament.

Paula Lehtomäki told the plenary session yesterday (13 December) that the Council of Ministers and the European Commission have known since September 2005 about the computerised Automated Targeting System (ATS) used to assign scores that rate the risk posed by people travelling into the US.

Controversially the airline passenger data supplied to the US under the Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement with the EU is used in the system.

Franco Frattini, commissioner for justice, freedom and security, told the Parliament a letter was sent to the US yesterday asking if the agreement’s safeguards on data were respected in the use of the ATS.

He said a US report on the system, published last month, "reveals significant differences between the way in which PNR data are handled within the ATS on the one hand and the stricter regime for European PNR data according to the undertakings given by the DHS [the US Department of Homeland Security]". The report says that the data can be held for up to 40 years while the US-EU agreement on airline passenger data states that data must be destroyed after three and a half years.

Dutch Liberal MEP Sophia in ’t Veld said that the US report showed the ATS would be used for everyday screenings such as job applications and applications for licences and grants. "This goes beyond the fighting of terrorism," she said.

MEPs criticised the Council and Commission for not revealing before that they were aware of the ATS. "This was done in secret for four years. If you knew since 2005, how come European citizens didn’t know about it?" asked in ’t Veld.

"I don’t understand how the system could have been known about for a year. What has been the impact on the PNR agreement?" asked Dutch Green MEP, Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg.

Lehtomäki said the Finnish presidency told the US during a meeting this week of its concern that the ATS was not respecting the agreement with the EU on data transfer, but she told MEPs: "There is no evidence that they are incompatible, you are jumping to conclusions."

A high-level contact group of US and EU officials would meet in January to discuss data-transfer issues, including the latest revelations on the ATS, Frattini said. He said the European Parliament and US Congress should have "close contacts" with the group. "We need a broader perspective and a long-term vision to tackle, together with the US, the terrorist threat without putting at risk the fundamental rights of individuals," added Frattini.

The revelations about the ATS will put more pressure on the Commission and the Council when negotiating a new PNR deal for next July to refuse US demands that they get more information, can store it for longer and share it more easily with other security agencies.

"When you add this up with everything else - the CIA renditions, Guantanamo Bay, even the eaves-dropping on their own citizens - what reason do we have to trust this administration blind-folded?" in ’t Veld said after the Parliament debate.

The EU has been aware for more than a year that the US was profiling European citizens based on the risk they posed of being terrorists, Finland’s minister for European affairs has told the European Parliament.