EU storage of air passenger data clears parliamentary hurdle

Brussels (dpa) - The European Union came a step closer Thursday to systematically storing the data of airline passengers travelling to, from and within the bloc, after EU parliamentarians endorsed the controversial anti-terrorism measure following years of opposition.The creation of a European passenger name records (PNR) system has been under discussion for nearly five years, but was stymied by data privacy concerns until the Paris terrorist attacks in January and November gave it new momentum.It would store passenger data such as names, credit card numbers and even meal preferences for five years, for use by law enforcement in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. The data will be rendered anonymous after six months.The system was originally foreseen only for flights to and from the 28-country EU, but member states have promised to collect data also on intra-EU and charter flights.The European Parliament‘s civil liberties committee had blocked the project for more than two years. On Thursday, however, it voted 38-19 to approve its creation.The measure now has to be approved by the entire 751-member EU legislature before it can be implemented. The vote is expected to take place in January.Parliamentarians from left-wing and liberal political factions are still opposed, arguing that the agreed-upon PNR system does not do enough to balance security with fundamental rights."This proposal only gives [a] false sense of security," liberal EU lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld wrote on Twitter.The European data protection supervisor also urged the parliament to re-think the PNR scheme, warning that it would be "the first large-scale and indiscriminate collection of personal data in the history of the union" and could be struck down by the EU‘s top court."Our freedoms cannot be protected by undermining the right to privacy," the independent supervision body said in a statement. "Millions of non-suspect passengers would potentially be affected by the EU PNR proposal."But PNR supporters argue that the system is key for the fight against terrorism, in particular to track so-called foreign fighters - Europeans who travel to Syria or Iraq and could then return home radicalized and ready to carry out attacks."We cannot wait any longer to put this system in place," said EU lawmaker Timothy Kirkhope, who is shepherding the file through the parliament."The EU PNR system will help the investigations of criminal and terrorist offences, thus helping prevent further attacks and therefore making our citizens‘ lives safer," said Axel Voss, who negotiated on behalf of the conservative faction in parliament.All EU member states except Denmark - which is not participating under special arrangements it has with the bloc - will have two years to transpose the new PNR rules into their national legislation once they are approved.