European Association of Taxpayer is against SWIFT-Treaty

There is going to be a final decision in the European Parliament this Thursday about the disputed SWIFT-Treaty. This treaty provides that any banking transactions of the inhabitants of Europe will be monitored in order to avoid any possible financing activity of terrorists.

TAE, the European Association of Taxpayers, demands that the SWIFT-treaty should be rejected. Any such proposed agreement would massively interfere with the privacy of the people in the EU and does not protect against misuse of commercial banking data, as its president Rolf von Hohenhau stated. The possibility of passing on data to third party was neither legitimised by data privacy principles, nor by principles of democracy.

That is why the Taxpayers Association of Europe is welcoming the recommendation of the Commission for the Freedom of Civilians, Justice and Internal Affairs of the European Parliament to fully reject the SWIFT-Treaty.

The Taxpayers Association of Europe demands that the European Parliament should opt against this SWIFT-Treaty. If the Members of Parliament vote against the SWIFT-Treaty, the Council would be required to suspend its realisation immediately. Even experts point out that there was no lack of data for defending terrorism, but that the existing information should be better evaluated, the President of the Taxpayers Association of Europe said.

Munich/Brussels, February 10, 2010