MEPs told to vote or else as US data row deepens The European Parliament has been asked to vote to approve or reject the Passenger Name Record agreement with the US. The Civil Liberties Committee is likely to postpone its vote until a new template has been created, to detail what information is exchanged. The Committee also wants to lay down how the information should be …
I'm guessing that if it appeared that MEPs were going to vote in favour, the vote would have been rushed through. The alternative is similar to the Irish referendum on the EU Constitution, sorry - Lisbon Treaty, where a wrong answer means they have to come back and do it again until they get the right answer.
I recall the Patriot act, which nobody was given time to read and the Republican Congress rubber stamped when pushed to do so. And then they read it, and felt very sick at what they'd signed.
They'd signed away the US freedoms of thousands of acts, evolved over decades in one panic vote.
Why doesn't the USA provide us with their list of terrorists for us to check the people who board the planes? (Domestic flights included?!). I think it is because the PNR data is primarily used for non serious purposes and as such we should not provide it without a proper discussion.
If PNR is for terrorist detection and watch lists are shared (as you claim), then the flight has already been checked against the watchlist before the suspect boarded in the EU and PNR isn't needed to catch terrorists because it is simply a check that has already been made.
Ergo we don't need to give them PNR data and we can afford to take time to discuss the alternatives using the proper democratic processes.
so long as the agreement is 100% reciprica unlike the current extradition agreement we have with the US. ie, like for like information, I for one, don't want some fuckwit Yank entering the UK on the very grounds that an UK citizen may be barred from entering the US.
Obama.........suck my c++k.
"she said, since "the consequences will be much more serious": the flow of data will have to stop if there is a no vote. In addition, "the provision of PNR data is part of the conditions the United States have imposed in exchange for a derogation from the visa regime", she pointed out."
The US visa waiver program is partial:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/18/poland-excluded-from-visa-waiver-list/
"President Bush angered staunch ally Poland on Friday by excluding it from a group of newcomers to a program that allows citizens of certain countries to visit the United States without entry visas."
"At a Rose Garden ceremony, Mr. Bush announced rescinding visa requirements for six other former communist countries — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - as well as South Korea, effective in about a month. "
EU represents, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia too, so the visa waiver cannot be used as an excuse.
There is a proposal to ban people on the no-fly list from planes crossing US airspace.
Unfortunately 80% of Canadian domestic flights are routed through US airspace.
So if you are a Canadian citizen, want to travel in Canada - and have the same name as say Edward Kennedy, Michael Mouse, Donald Duck or any of the other names on the list - you are in for a very very long drive.
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