The European Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a ‘sell-out’ foretold?

The European Parliament (EP) plenary adopted its first-reading vote on the European Commission’s proposed Directive on data retention in December 2005. The question before the EP is whether it accepts the text agreed by the JHA Council of 1-2 December 2005, or adopts the report of its Civil Liberties committee, which would entail arguing for a number of key changes to the text as agreed by the Council.

The purpose of the following analysis is to set out a) how the Council’s agreed text differs from the Commission’s initial proposal; and b) how the EP committee report differs from both these versions. It will be seen that if the EP accepts the text as agreed in the Council it would amount to a ‘sell-out’ of its position – and the civil liberties of the EU public.

• Primary Source

Statewatch: Statewatch Observatory: The surveillance of telecommunications in the EU http://www.statewatch.org/eu-data-retention.htm

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