The U.S. has long sought such permission, as part of its efforts to battle money laundering, but European Union parliamentarians voted down the idea by a large majority.
In a move that American officials said was a "setback for counter-terror efforts," the European Parliament last week voted against a proposal that would have allowed U.S. law enforcement authorities access to information about European bank transfers.
The U.S. has long sought such permission, as part of its efforts to battle money laundering, but European Union parliamentarians voted down the idea by a large majority, 378-196, with 31 abstentions. EU Parliament president Jerzy Buzek said lawmakers feared that the measure would sacrifice human rights in the name of security.
Instead of a single measure that would apply to all 27 EU member nations, the U.S. will have to rely on individual agreements with each country for access to financial data. Meanwhile, the governments will continue discussing rules on access with the EU government, which has been negotiating with the U.S. for months over the issue. One condition the governments are likely to demand in return for a deal is access to U.S. bank transfer information.
Parliamentarians were lobbied by top U.S. officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, all of whom stressed the importance of the deal to national security. However, EU governments were angered over news that the transfer company SWIFT had been sending data to the U.S. since after the 9/11 terror attacks.
The current deal would have formalized that arrangement, but when EU governments found out about the program in 2006, they began lobbying against it, claiming that the data transfer violated EU security rules. SWIFT moved information about European bank transfers from the U.S. to Switzerland, making formalization of the EU agreement all the more necessary. But after last week's vote, U.S. officials will have to begin the negotiation process over again.
In the past, the U.S. has received numerous tips from SWIFT that have led to the arrest and prosecution of various criminals, and the U.S. has used the data to attempt to track down money transfers to terror groups. In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the U.S. was disappointed by the result of the vote and said that "the outcome is a setback for U.S.-E.U. counterterror cooperation. We think its is a vitally important capability to have." He added that the U.S. would work with the EU to resolve the issue.