The European Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a ‘sell-out’ foretold?

Introduction

The European Parliament (EP) plenary is next week (week of Dec 12 2005) due to adopt its first-reading vote on the Commission’s proposed Directive on data retention. The question before the EP is whether it accepts the text agreed by the JHA Council of 1-2 December 2005, or adopts the report of its Civil Liberties committee, which would entail arguing for a number of key changes to the text as agreed by the Council.

The purpose of the following analysis is to set out a) how the Council’s agreed text differs from the Commission’s initial proposal; and b) how the EP committee report differs from both these versions. It will be seen that if the EP accepts the text as agreed in the Council last week, it would amount to a ‘sell-out’ of its position - and the civil liberties of the EU public.

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Chronicle of a ‘sell-out’ foretold