EU-US: Sarah meets Janet Napolitano, US Secretary for Homeland Security

10.52.00am GMT Mon 9th Nov 2009

Sarah reminded Janet Napolitano that EU-US relations are about justice as well as security

On Wednesday, as vice chair of the US delegation and member of the civil liberties committee, Sarah met the US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano who gave MEPs a briefing and answered questions on a US perspective on transatlantic cooperation for combating crime and terrorism. Sarah had the opportunity to recall to the Secretary that the relationship had to be about justice as well as security, and MEPs asked about a range of matters such as visa waiver and the prospect of having to pay around $15 in a tourist tax/administration fee for the new Electronic Travel Authorisation.

Progress has been made recently on a binding EU-US data protection agreement that would replace the case-by-case provisions relying on US goodwill that have accompanied the unbalanced data-sharing agreements so far. MEPs impressed on Janet Napolitano the need to safeguard citizens' privacy, something which has not always been a priority in the past in our relations with the US, and insist that there should be, in case of misuse, adequate redress channels through courts, not just administrative ones. MEPs are very concerned about the use to which data such as that from air passengers is put, for example being used for data-mining and profiling.