International

The hearing organised today by the European Parliament on the international bank transfer system SWIFT and CIA spying on European financial transactions made one thing absolutely clear: that when it comes to the rules governing such transactions, nothing is clear at all. Data transfer to the US authorities by SWIFT appears to evade any real regulation. As SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard says, “The question remains ‘who will guard the guards?’. You can expect in this manner that the CIA will have no compunction in involving itself in lots of other European affairs.”

Today the European Parliament voted in favour of the purchase of the European Parliament buildings in Strasbourg. SP Euro-MPs Erik Meijer and Kartika Liotard opposed the proposal, explaining that “We have no problem with the calculation that purchase will in the long term prove more advantageous than a rental agreement. If that was all that was at issue, we’d vote in favour. Much more important, however, is that fact that this will contribute to perpetuating the use of Strasbourg for monthly plenary meetings, a circus which costs 200 million euros a year or more.”