EU agrees to exchange bank data

One day before the Treaty of Lisbon goes into effect the EU has agreed on the controversial bank data exchange with the United States. The left-liberal Berliner Zeitung writes that the European governments have consciously acted against the spirit of EU reform: "This happened just a few hours before the EU Parliament obtained a full right to a say in this matter. ... As a result it is anything but a bagatelle. On the contrary, the agreement can have enormous consequences for the 500 million citizens of the EU. Anyone who transfers money to a country outside the Single Euro Payments Area (for example to the US or Turkey), must count on attracting the attention of US terror investigators. ... To the very end there was considerable resistance to the European governments' approach, but this made little impression on the European states. .. The EU Parliament has been disregarded and civil rights violated. There could not have been a worse start to the Treaty of Lisbon."

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