EU lawmakers, capitals close to deal on keeping air passenger data

Brussels (dpa) - EU governments and lawmakers are close to striking a deal on the storage of airline passenger data for law enforcement purposes, the European Parliament said Wednesday after last month‘s terrorist attacks in Paris gave added urgency to the issue.The establishment of a so-called Passenger Name Record database is considered a key element in the fight on terrorism, in particular to track so-called foreign fighters, Europeans who travel to Syria or Iraq and return home.The records include personal data such as passengers‘ names, credit card numbers and meal requests.The proposal to establish a European database was blocked by EU lawmakers for more than two years because of concerns over data privacy, but the legislature eased its stance after attacks in Paris at the start of the year.Airlines based in the European Union already share passenger information with security services in Australia, Canada and the United States.There is a broad commitment now by all sides to reach an EU-wide agreement by the end of the year."We are almost there on a deal," EU lawmaker Timothy Kirkhope, who is leading the negotiations on behalf of the European Parliament, said Wednesday after the latest round of talks.The only issue that remains unresolved is the question of how long unmasked data can be stored before it is rendered anonymous. EU governments are asking for nine months while Parliament says six months should suffice."Of course, both sides are having to compromise, but I believe nine months is too long for unmasked data to be kept," Kirkhope said.Conservative EU lawmaker Axel Voss expressed optimism Wednesday of meeting the end-of-year goal. The EU legislature has its final plenary session of the year scheduled for December 14-17."I don‘t expect any more lengthy negotiations," Voss said.But liberal EU lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld slammed the agreement, describing it on Twitter as a "lose-lose deal.""Directive does not close information/security gaps. But does reduce rights. Missed opportunity," she wrote.