European commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship ordered to redraft PNR legislation after terror attacks as counter-terror discussions loom

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The European executive on Wednesday called for the prompt passage of legislation to collect and retain information on anyone flying into or out of the EU, as part of a package of counter-terror policies following the jihadi attacks in Paris and alleged foiled terrorist murders in Belgium.



Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, told the European parliament that the storage of data on all air travellers would not clash with safeguarding civil liberties in Europe.

The Passenger Names Record system, or PNR, collecting and storing scores of pieces of information on air passengers, is controversial and has been blocked by the parliament since 2013.

Avramopoulos has been ordered to redraft the legislation as a result of the recent terror attacks but also because European governments are alarmed at the more than 3,000 EU citizens fighting in Syria, hundreds of them returning home.

“A European PNR directive is necessary to enhance the security of all people living in Europe,” he said.

A European commission note seen by the Guardian calls for the swift adoption of the collection of passenger name records, including bank details, mobile numbers and meal preferences, for those flying in and out of the EU and their retention for up to five years for access by the police and security services.

Avramopoulos said it was wrong to suggest, as the Guardian did on Tuesday, that the proposals would be published on Wednesday, saying they had not yet been discussed within the commission.

EU interior and justice ministers are to meet in Latvia on Thursday and Friday to come up with a menu of counter-terror measures to be presented to an EU summit in two weeks that is to focus on what to do about jihadis in Europe.

Last year the European court of justice struck down an EU law on data retention and ruled that “blanket” storage of EU citizens’ data violated their human rights. The proposal to collect the data of all travellers flying into or out of Europe could fall foul of the court’s ruling, argue opponents of the PNR system.

Britain already has its own PNR system and a dozen other EU countries are preparing similar systems. Supporters say it would be better to have a European PNR system rather than 28 national regimes.

The 28 governments meeting on Thursday support the European system and are pushing the commission to come up with a new draft that will pass muster with the parliament. While coming in for strong criticism in the chamber on Wednesday, there were also strong signs of a cross-party consensus building behind a PNR system.

The biggest caucus, the European People’s Party (Christian democrats), called for swift passage and the Liberals’ leader, Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, also supported it.

The leader of the second biggest grouping, the social democrats, was critical, but afterwards signalled he was open to persuasion.

“We are ready to discuss improving PNR. However, we demand an approach which fully respects individual rights, with a clearly defined scope and clarity on the retention period, said Gianni Pittella.

British Labour MEPs broke ranks with their social democrat colleagues, supporting the PNR regime.

“Labour MEPs have never been opposed in principle to EU PNR. Today, Labour MEPs believe that an EU PNR which is comprehensive and strikes the right balance between security and privacy is one which should be negotiated as quickly and effectively as possible,” said Claude Moraes, the Labour MEP who also chairs the parliament’s civil liberties committee which will play a key role deciding the issue.

Timothy Kirkhope, the Tory MEP who is parliament’s rapporteur on the issue, appealed for support for PNR and pledged to shape the legislation so that it would survive any challenges at the European court.

Tory MEPs, while supporting an EU system, also warned against transferring any further national powers to Brussels in the effort to boost counter-terrorism efficacy.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s anti-EU and anti-immigrant National Front, said the answer to terrorism was to end free travel within the EU and reinstate national borders.

The strongest criticism of the proposals came from the Greens whose expert on data privacy, Jan Albrecht, a German MEP, said the PNR system would be counter-productive and would constitute illegal “blanket surveillance”.

“We already know who’s on the planes.”

Other critics said PNR would not have stopped any of the terrorist attacks staged in Europe since 9/11.

• This article was amended on 29 January 2015. An earlier version referred to Dimitris Avramopoulos as the European commissioner for justice and home affairs.