Fregatura scoperta a Bruxelles

C’e’ una dichiarazione al parlamento europeo contro la pedofilia che e’ stata sottoscritta da numerosi parlamentari. Nel testo pero’ si occultava un riferimento ad un provvedimento sulla data retention, non citato esplicitamente ma solo come riferimento numerico.

Beh, qualcuno se ne è accorto… In particolare l’On. Wikström che ha mandato una mail ai colleghi parlamentari spiegando il sotterfugio nel testo e il motivo per cui ritirava la sua firma. Hat tip !

(e ditelo anche ai parlamentari europei). Leggi sotto..

Dear colleagues,

I would like to share my mistake with you in case some of you have made the same mistake.

When signing  written declarations,  sometimes one too quickly signs declarations that sound good. For example a written declaration on setting up a European early warning system (EWS) for paedophiles and sex offenders (no 29). I signed this declaration in an early stage but have now withdrawn my signature. Maybe some of you have done the same mistake?

The review of the Data Retention Directive is currently underway, with a report expected from the Commission in September. The Directive was adopted under the previous legislature after severe pressure from the Council and despite being repeatedly rejected by the Civil Liberties Committee.

Following such a difficult adoption in the European Parliament, implementation problems in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Romania and Sweden and in advance of the Commission’s report on implementation of the Directive, it is clearly inappropriate for the Parliament to take a position on this topic now.

The Written Declaration is supposed to be about an early-warning system for the protection of children. Long-term storage of citizens’ data has clearly nothing to do with “early warning” for any purpose. The “data preservation” system established by the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention was designed specifically for cases requiring urgent preservation of data in relation to ongoing investigations.

Both of the two e-mails sent to MEPs focused on the early warning system and neither mentioned the data retention Directive. The website set up to support the written declaration also does not mention data retention, at least not in an obvious way. Even the written declaration itself does not mention the Directive by name, but only refers to its reference number.

Bearing in mind the fact that data retention is not relevant to an early-warning system and that none of the material made available to MEPs on the subject mentioned data retention, it seems very likely that MEPs signed the Written Declaration unaware of this aspect of the text, just like I did.  I want to stress that while I support the principles of Written Declaration 29, the inclusion of a reference to the delicate and unrelated issue of data retention makes it impossible for me to support this written declaration.

I therefore regret that I had to withdraw my signature. It is unfortunate both that this was included in the Declartion and that it was not mentioned in any of the communications from its sponsors.  The declaration is likely to get all the signature it needs and therefore I urge those of you who may have signed it by mistake to withdraw your signature. In order to do this, please contact “Déclarations écrites” at 32975.

Sincerely,

Cecilia Wikström, MEP