Speaking from Strasbourg, Labour MEP for Dublin Proinsias De Rossa, has wholeheartedly welcomed the defeat today of the Council and Commission provisional agreement with the US on the transfer of bank data.

Mr De Rossa said: "The current text of the EU-US agreement does not protect the rights of EU citizens and enterprises and effectively provides for the transfer en masse of all personal and commercial information held on the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) system to the US, contrary to EU law.

“Our concerns are not new. Since 2006 the European Parliament has regularly made our concerns plain to both the Council and Commission who negotiated this disgraceful agreement. However they chose to dismiss our concerns believing they could conclude the agreement before the new powers under the Lisbon Treaty could become effective on 1st December 2009. Indeed the Council rushed to a signature of the agreement one day before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.

“The Lisbon Treaty gives the EP a binding veto power on such international agreements. Until now no parliamentary scrutiny has been provided for in this sensitive process, either at national or at EU level. I welcome the decision too by the Dáil Joint Committee on European Affairs to look more closely at this proposal. This signals a much more effective monitoring of European legislative proposals which will be to the benefit of citizens.

“This is the first time a decision has been taken under the new consent procedure by EP and I welcome the fact that the parliament so comprehensively demonstrated its determination not to act as simply a rubber stamp for the wishes of the Council or the Commission on International Agreements.”