On Tuesday 17 November 2015, the Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Étienne Schneider, met with the President of the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss how Europe will be responding to the Paris attacks of last Friday.
Étienne Schneider, who is also the Grand Duchy's Minister of Internal Security, was welcomed by Martin Schulz in the Belgian capital where the two politicians looked to strengthen the European response to the terrorist acts which killed at least 129 people and wounded a further 350. The aim of the meeting was to ensure a greater involvement of the European Parliament in the future decisions to be taken on measures of security and in the fight against terrorism.
The EP President and Internal Security Minister discussed the state of play of the negotiation on the proposal for a directive on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime. Since the attacks, governments and politicians have called for the implementation and enhancement of such measures, which could on the other hand call into question the privacy of Europe's people.
"We understand the speed with which the member states want us to move on - in various issues such as the PNR - but we will take our legislative role very seriously," commented Claude Moraes, chair of the justice committee of the European Parliament, in an EP report. "There has to be a balance between the safety of European citizens, and their privacy and fundamental rights".
"I would not call this a war on terror, but we certainly have a problem," added Anna Elżbieta Fotyga, chair of the subcommittee on security and defence, before continuing "All of us have concern for democracy, but the danger of terrorism is there and we have to prevent the escalation of terrorist attacks. I think the PNR directive should be adopted with many safeguards to guarantee citizens' rights."
The trialogues on the PNR between the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament were initiated after the vote of the negotiation mandate by the EP in July 2015. Luxembourg's Ministry of Internal Security yesterday reported that the trialogues are currently being pursued "at a very active pace".
Martin Schulz confirmed his strong support to the Luxembourg Presidency which will aim to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year, in accordance with the programme of the Luxembourg Presidency. The President of the European Parliament expressed a strong political will to achieve significant results on this file.
PNR has been considered a valuable tool in the domain of security policy in its ability to allow for the achievement of concrete results, and was endorsed by the heads of state or government at the European Council of 30 August 2014.
Photo by European Union 2015 (L-R: Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Security, Étienne Schneider; President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz)
