Speaking after  the European Parliament's vote on the SWIFT agreement, Portuguese GUE/NGL MEP Rui Tavares warned of the lack of substantive changes introduced since Parliament's rejection of the deal in February.

"As negotiating partners, the Commission and the US administration must not strike an agreement that is the same as the first in substance. The key point here is the bulk transfer of European citizens' financial data to third country soil. Parliament should be very clear in refusing this, and should seek other solutions to enable the fight against terrorism."

The vote on the SWIFT resolution on the recommendation from the Commission to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations for an EU-US agreement on making financial messaging data available to the U.S. Treasury Department in its efforts to combat terrorism and terrorist financing took place in Parliament this afternoon.

"We are in favour of fighting terrorism with financial investigation provided that does not subject the data of innocent citizens to unnecessary vulnerability" Tavares said on the resolution.

GUE/NGL PRESS CONTACT

Gianfranco Battistini + 32 475 646628

Sonja Giese + 32 486 94 50 21

David Lundy + 32 485 50 58 12