Sarah speaking about bilteral agreements between the US and EU Member States regarding visas and PNR (Slough Liberal Democrats)

Slough Liberal Democrats <johanney@hotmail.com>

Sarah speaking about bilteral agreements between the US and EU Member States regarding visas and PNR

March 10, 2008 12:30 PM
By Sarah Ludford in European Parliament
Originally published by Sarah Ludford MEP

Madam President, as others have said, this memorandum of understanding is illegal under European Community and EU law, which confers competence on the Community or Union for visa policy, key aspects of anti-terrorism and security policy and transfer of passenger data. It must surely be illegal for the Czech Republic to transfer to the US any information from common EU databases, such as the Visa Information System.

But, almost more importantly, it is politically disastrous. Some of us learnt early last year on a visit to Washington how damaging the bilateral lobbying efforts - not only those of the Czech Republic, by the way - were to the attempts by the Commission and Presidency to present a united front in the interests of the whole EU.

But no, some Member States just could not get it. Sure, I understand the frustration of countries whose soldiers are fighting and dying alongside Americans, not only in Afghanistan but, controversially, in Iraq, at the fact that their citizens are suspected of terrorism when they want to visit the US. There is an irony in there somewhere. But how stupid to fall into this 'divide-and-rule' trap!

This is so far from being in line with EU aspirations to have weight in the world that it causes one almost to despair and exposes the Council as a whole to ridicule. Like Ms Hennis-Plasschaert, I note that they are not here to answer that charge tonight.