Brussels - Greens/EFA present list of signatories for establishing an Inquiry Committee on Echelon

The Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament today presented a list of 172 signatures of MEPs of all political groups supporting the establishment of a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Echelon, an espionage system operated by the USA, the UK and other countries. Parliament's rules of procedure require at least 157 signatures (25% of MEPs) for such a demand.

"Echelon, which is able to intercept all electronic communications such as e-mail, faxes, phone calls etc in the European Union, poses a serious threat to democracy, citizens rights and business interests," said Paul Lannoye, Co-President of the Green/EFA Group at a press conference in Brussels today. "The Greens/EFA want to know if the EU Commission and the Council have done enough to protect EU citizens from being spied on in their professional and private lives."

Mr Lannoye said he had already sent the list of signatories to the European Parliament s President Nicole Fontaine. "According to Article 151 of the rules of procedure it is now up to the Parliament s Conference of Presidents to make a recommendation for an Inquiry Committee, which will then be voted in the plenary."

"We have a clear legal base for our demand," Mr Lannoye declared. "We refer to Article 286 of the Treaty of the European Communities which deals with data protection. Furthermore, we invoke two EU directives on telecommunications of which one sets rules for the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. The other one, more specific still, contains provisions for the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector. Last but not least we quote Chapter VI of the EU Treaty on the distortion of competition to which economic espionage certainly leads."

"The EU Commission has to wake up to reality," said Heidi Hautala, Co-President of the Green/EFA Group. "Two years ago, Commissioner Bangemann simply denied the existence of an interception system such as Echelon, and his successor Frits Bolkestein is continuing to do so. But the Parliament s STOA Report on Echelon and the subsequent hearing organised by the Civil Rights Committee have given enough evidence that this system exists and works. We call upon the EU Commission and the Council to show more transparency in this question and to help to shed light on the legal grey zone in which telecommunication interception is practised."

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