EU PNR document pool
The proposal for a EU PNR Directive (Fight against terrorism and serious crime: use of passenger name record (PNR) data (procedure file 2011/0023(COD) ) was adopted by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee on 15 July 2015. The narrow vote (32 in favor, 26 against, no abstentions) in favour happened despite the rejection of this same EU PNR proposal by same Committee in 2013, despite the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) despite the ruling invalidating the Data Retention Directive last year and despite the referral to the CJEU of the EU Canada PNR agreement.
EDRi has repeatedly reported , in line with the opinions presented by a range of independent experts of EU law, that this profiling measure presents serious risks for fundamental rights, that it is not necessary, that it is not proportionate to the aims that seeks to achieve and that it is not even effective. The rapporteur of the proposal, Timothy Kirkhope (UK, ECR) brought the proposal back to the European Parliament (EP) despite the number of criticisms coming from MEPs, civil society organisations, the Article 29 Working Party, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The votes per political group were (according to data shared with MEPs by the LIBE Committee secretariat):
EPP: 18 in favour
In favour: Heinz K. Becker, Michal Boni, Anna-Maria Corazza Bildt, Rachida Dati, Frank Engel, Mariya Gabriel, Esteban González Pons, Kinga Gál, Monika Hohlmeier, Barbara Kudrycka, Jeroen Lenaers, Monica Macovei, Roberta Metsola, Artis Pabriks, Csaba Sógor, Traian Ungureanu, Axel Voss, Tomáš Zdechovský.
Socialists and Democrats: 2 in favour 11 against
In favour: Claude Moraes, Marju Lauristin
Against: Tanja Fajon, Monica Flašíková Beňová, Ana Gomes, Sylvie Guillaume, Iliana Iotova, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Kashetu Kyenge, Norbert Neuser, Péter Niedermüller, Soraya Post, Birgit Sippel
ECR: 6 in favour:
In favour: Daniel Dalton, Jussi Halla-aho, Timothy Kirkhope, Helga Stevens, Michał Ujazdowski Kazimierz, Branislav Škripek
ALDE: 4 in favour, one against
In favour: Louis Michel, Cecilia Wikström, Nathalie Griesbeck, Filiz Hyusmenova,
Against: Sophia In’t Veld
EFDD: One in favour, three against
In favour: Cristina Winberg
Against: Gerard Batten, Ignazio Corrao, Laura Ferrara
GUE/NGL: 4 against
Against: Malin Björk, Cornelia Ernst, Barbara Spinelli, Marie-Christine Vergiat
Greens/EFA: 4 against
Against: Jan-Philipp Albrecht, Eva Joly, Judith Sargentini, Valero Bodil
ENF: 2 against
Against: Lorenzo Fontana, Vicky Maeijer
Non-aligned: 1 in favour, 1 against
In favour: Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Against: Udo Voigt
When the LIBE Committee of the EP adopted the proposal, it also approved the initiation of trialogue discussions with the Council, which will start next September. The EP negotiating team is composed as follows: Mr Moraes (S&D), LIBE Chair; Mr Kirkhope (ECR), rapporteur, and the shadow rapporteurs Mr Voss (EPP), Ms Sippel (S&D), Ms In’t Veld (ALDE), Ms Ernst (GUE/NGL), Mr Albrecht (Greens/EFA), Ms Winberg (EFDD) plus an ENF Member to be confirmed.
In this document pool we will add the documents that will be used during the trialogues:
– European Commission proposal (02.02.2011)
– Council document: Background information for the trialogues (20.07.2015)
– Council document: 5 column table with the proposal for the trialogues (20.07.2015) (pdf).
– European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Opinion 5/2015 on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the use of Passenger Name Record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime: https://secure.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/webdav/site/mySite/shared/Documents/Consultation/Opinions/2015/15-09-24_PNR_EN.pdf
– Note 14024/15 from the Council of the European Union with the state of play, compromises and future trilogue negotiations (2 and 15 December) 19.11.2015: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14024-2015-INIT/en/pdf
– 5 column document including Council and the Rapporteur’s proposals (30.11.2015): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/nov/ep-kirkhope-pnr-proposals-11-2015.pdf