EU interior ministers have announced they support negotiating a new agreement with the U.S. on bank data transfers, the EU Observer reports. "We want something for Europe as a whole, an agreement that includes restrictions and allays concerns of the European Parliament," Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba said at a press conference held Thursday. MEPs voted against the interim SWIFT agreement with the U.S. by a margin of 378 to 196 on February 11, stating the deal violated data protection law. While the U.S. has indicated it could opt for bilateral deals with specific European nations, the Council of Ministers sees such a move as offering fewer data protection guarantees than an EU agreement, the report states.
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