US and Europe clash over access to financial transfer data

THE US is throwing a hissy fit over MEPs threatening to dump an agreement that allows American authorities access to all data on international financial transfers carried out through European banking SWIFT service.

For the past few days the phone lines from Washington to Brussels have been hopping as senior US politicians, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, put pressure on the Europeans to seal the deal.

The US ambassador to the EU William Kennard has even written to the European Parliament president warning that if they fail to vote for the agreement when it comes before them next Thursday, they will become irrelevant. Instead they will negotiate agreements with individual member states – the old method of divide and conquer that frequently keeps EU member states at odds with one another.