Data deal due

The European Union has agreed to begin talks in May about how citizens' cash transfer data could be shared with the United States to allow tracking of terrorist funds.

Justice and interior ministers from across the EU met in Brussels on Friday to agree on a revised mandate for the European Commission to conduct the negotiations.

The new rules are intended to take into account privacy concerns expressed by the European Parliament. In February, the parliament vetoed a provisional agreement that had been reached with the US.

Under a successful deal, the EU would allow US counter-terrorism agencies to have access to data collected on EU citizens by the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

New privacy guarantees

EU home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, said the new mandate included "significant data protection guarantees."

She added that the situation was "very urgent" and said there was a "clear security gap."

At the European Parliament this week, concerns were expressed about the sharing of data in bulk, including information not necessarily related to terrorist activities. "The problem of mass data transfer has not been resolved," said Birgit Sippel, a Social Democrat parliamentarian from Germany.

The Spanish government has said that such data transfers were used to investigate the 2004 train bombings in Madrid and helped to prevent an attack in Barcelona.

rc/dpa/Reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton