The European Parliament decided to postpone a report drafted by Martine ROURE (PSE, FR) endorsing the decision of the Legal Affairs Committee. Although MEPs believe the proposal will bring more uniformity and consistency to the EU´s data protection principles, they decided to wait until the Council meets again in July, hoping the Finnish presidency will be more willing to take into account Parliament's demands.
Even though the final vote was postponed, Parliament voted through all the 60 amendments tabled, approving them to make clear their support to the position of rapporteur and committee members. (For a summary of the main amendments, please refer to the document dated 15/05/2006.) In general, the amendments limit the use and access to personal data to the very necessary cases and when there is a real threat to public security.
The Commission proposal responds to an old claim from the Parliament, which, since the creation of the third pillar, has been calling for standards on data protection in the context of judicial and police cooperation. The issue is particularly relevant now that the European Court of Justice decided to annul existing agreements between the EU and US government on the transfer of personal data of air passengers flying into the United States. It is a priority for the Parliament to push for a quick adoption of this draft decision by the Council, which would affect future agreements with the USA.