Statement by European Commission Spokeswoman on U.S. President Obama's remarks on the review of U.S. intelligence programmes

EU News 10/2014

Brussels, 17 January 2014
MEMO/14/30

The European Commission welcomes President Obama's remarks and presidential directive on the review of U.S. intelligence programmes. We in particular welcome the President's willingness to begin to address wide-spread concerns related to the large-scale data collection by the NSA, concerns which are shared by many European citizens.

President Obama's remarks and action show that the legitimate concerns expressed by the EU have been listened to by our U.S. partner and that the intensive transatlantic dialogue on these issues has been genuine and is beginning to produce results.

As the European Commission stated on 27 November 2013 (IP/13/1166), trust in EU-U.S. data flows has been affected by revelations on these intelligence programmes and needs to be rebuilt. In recognising the need for action, President Obama has taken important steps towards rebuilding that trust.

We particularly welcome the willingness of President Obama to extend safeguards currently available to U.S. citizens as regards data collection for national security purposes to non U.S.-citizens. We will now explore the full implications of this commitment.

The President's remarks also open the way for discussion between the EU and the U.S. on a more efficient use of mutual legal assistance treaties and on the data protection norms that should apply to the use of big data.

The President's announcements represent the start of an important process to address EU concerns and we look forward to further action by the U.S. in this regard.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-30_en.htm?locale=en

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