International

Six months or so ago it became clear that American secret services were being allowed access to details stored in the SWIFT databank, where details are held of cross-border cash transactions. The European Parliament today returns to the issue, while at the same time SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard is complaining that the question she put as long ago as last autumn "has yet to receive any kind of answer," adding that "the Commission and Council must use today's debate to make clear just what it is they have to hide."

Until recently, taking the train from Amsterdam to Brussels or Cologne to Utrecht was no more complicated than it would have been to travel by rail between two Dutch cities. Increasing liberalization and the imposition of market conditions on rail providers has, however, hit international passengers hard. When timetables are revised, or delays and diversions foreseen, trans-frontier passengers are increasingly provided with inadequate information, making it difficult or impossible for them to rearrange journeys. Euro-MP Erik Meijer, a member of the European Parliament Committee on Transport and himself a regular user of international rail services, has asked the European Commission whether it is aware of these developments and, if so, whether it has any plans to deal with them.