No agreement to create a European PNR after long legislative deadlock

The European Commission has refused to revise its proposal to the European Parliament to create an EU-wide Passenger Name Record (PNR). Brussels and EU member states see PNR (Passenger Name Record) as a vital tool in the fight against terrorism, but there are strong misgivings about the breach of privacy.

 

 

The PNR, which would collect personal data of air passengers to and from the EU, is blocked in the parliamentary procedure due to doubts about its proportionality and respect for privacy;

The proposal is blocked in the parliamentary committee because of the doubts about its proportionality and respect for the privacy of the political groups in the European hemicycle, mainly the liberals, the ecologists and the United Left.

"First of all, we have to defend our citizens against terrorism by drastically increasing the information we share. It should never happen again that we realize, after terrorist attacks, that the killers were already known to the intelligence services," according to Liberal Group spokesman Guy Verhofstadt, referring to the attacks in Paris.

Since the tragic events in the French capital, both the Commission and the member states have called on the European Parliament to unblock negotiations on the PNR, considering it an essential measure to detect European jihadists who travel to Iraq or Syria to fight and return to commit attacks in Europe, according to Europa Press.

The PNR was first addressed by the European Parliament in 2007. Since then, its process has gone through a painful path and has almost been abandoned. In 2013, the European Parliament rejected the project presented by the Commission with the block vote of the European Socialists. This time everything can be different. According to information from Vozpopuli, the PSOE isá willing to agree on the political PNR.