Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, this morning rang Jerzy Buzek, the European Parliament's president, to express concern that members of the Parliament are planning to vote against a deal to share electronic bank transfer data with the US, Parliament officials say.
The majority of MEPs are expected to vote next Tuesday or Wednesday (9-10 February) against approving a temporary agreement to give the US Treasury access to electronic banking data handled by SWIFT, an international telecommunications company.
The US argues that the agreement is a vital element in the fight against terrorism and that the data has already produced information that has led to the prevention of terrorist attacks.
MEPs opposed to the deal argue there are not sufficient data protection safeguards in place to prevent the data falling into the wrong hands.
