Finnish blonde accepts rape by US in name of War on Terror

An agreement has been reached on the supply by EU airlines of passenger data to the US. This has involved a marathon 7 hours trans-Atlantic video conference by EU diplomats. EU government representatives had not yet been formally notified, nor approved the deal.

The new arrangements involve the data being "pushed" to the to the US Department of Homeland Security, rather than being "pulled"... however the data will now be distributed to US counter-terrorism and border control agencies, the BBC reports.

"This new agreement will provide a possibility of giving passenger data to the US authorities while guaranteeing sufficient data protection," said Leena Luhtanen,(see pic) Justice Minister of Finland - the Finns currently provide the EU Presidency.

Whatever the deal is, and the details will probably never be made public, it is an interim agreement lasting until emd July 2007. The EU and the U.S hope to conclude a permanent agreement late next year.

Meanwhile the Belgian based SWIFT banking system is regularly sharing data with the US Treasury violating EU privacy rules. A European parliament hearing yesterday looked at these arrangements. Financial Times

Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, told the Brussels hearing yesterday that the ECB had known since 2002 about US demands for data from Swift. But he said the bank did not have the power to stop bank records being transferred to US anti-terror investigators. Absolute horseshit.

"Should we have informed European institutions? We did not consider it was our duty to . . . inform any other institution that would be competent."

Lie back and think of Brussels.
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