EU-US Relations after Snowden: Data, Democracy, Security

Organised by the Department of European Studies and the Department of Politics at the University of Amsterdam, and supported by the Jean Monnet Programme and ACCESS Europe.

Event

The so-called PRISM affair calls into question the capacity of the European Union to protect citizens and residents against the intelligence activities of third countries and its own Member States. This roundtable discussion – third in the ‘Practitioner Engagement Series’ on EU External Relations – brings together experts to debate the EU-US relations in the wake of the Snowden revelations, and addresses questions including democratic oversight, transatlantic cooperation and privacy.

The disclosure of the electronic surveillance programs deployed by the US NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ have placed the question of data protection and privacy at the centre of European public debate. The so-called PRISM affair calls into question the capacity of the European Union to protect citizens and residents against the intelligence activities of third countries and its own Member States. Besides renewed discussions on the EU’s legal framework for data protection, it has furthermore been suggested that the EU should develop its own electronic surveillance capacities to counterweigh the capabilities of the US.

This roundtable discussion – third in the ‘Practitioner Engagement Series’ on EU External Relations – brings together experts to debate the EU-US relations in the wake of the Snowden revelations, and addresses questions including democratic oversight, transatlantic cooperation and privacy. The debate will address among others the following questions:

• The Snowden revelations have furthered a longstanding debate on the rights to data protection, privacy and challenges to democratic oversight of intelligence services. What issues are at stake here? How should we envisage the relation between the principles of EU law and the increasing importance of data-driven security in the US and the EU?
• Mass electronic surveillance programmes deployed by US agencies pose a fundamental challenge to the transatlantic relation, in particular to foundational principles of this relation in the field of data protection, such as Safe Harbor. What role has the European external Action service played in the transatlantic discussion following the Snowden revelations, and options are discussed to reframe the relation in light of fundamental rights and democracy in the EU?
• Private companies, be they hardware or software companies, Internet service providers or cloud service providers, have been placed in the public spotlight. What are the options available to make sure that these important actors of the daily electronic lives of EU citizens and residents observe provisions of EU law, but are also afforded a degree of protection from requests of collaboration issued by intelligence services?
• Given the involvement of EU Member States in the NSA’s surveillance programs and the activities of their own intelligence services in this area, the current situation underscores the need to provide citizens and residents with the means to protect themselves. How can the EU act to empower its citizens and residents in order to make them the active protectors of their personal data?

Another aspect called into question by recent developments is the exercise of oversight over security agencies and services in the digital realm. This is a matter for Member State as well as EU bodies. How can oversight be ensured?

Vigjilenca Abazi  

Vigjilenca Abazi is a Ph.D. Fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, University of Amsterdam and in 2014 Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School. Vigjilenca researches secrecy and democracy in the European Union. Some of her recent academic publications include “Private Actors in the ‘WikiLeaks World’ Changing Boundaries of Traditional Secrecy” in: A. McCann et al. (eds) When Private Actors Contribute to Public Interests (Eleven International Publishing: Den Haag, forthcoming 2014); Unveiling the Power over Europol's Secrets (2013) 10 European Public Law: EU eJournal.

Sergio Carrera  

Sergio Carrera is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Justice and Home Affairs Programme of Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. Carrera holds a PhD on European Law at the University of Maastricht and has published widely on EU justice and home affairs law and policies. He is co-author of a recent study on ‘National Programmes for Mass Surveillance of Personal Data in EU Member States and their Compatibility with EU Law,’ conducted for the European Parliament (2013).

Victor Devouge 

Victor Devouge is a French expert seconded to the US & Canada Division of the European External Action Service where he follows transatlantic developments in the Justice and Home Affairs area, including counterterrorism and data protection matters. He is is an alumnus of the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration and previously served in the French Ministry of Interior as head of cabinet of a prefect, coordinating security forces and security policies.

Reinhard Priebe

Reinhard Priebe is Director of ‘Internal Security’ in the Directorate General Home Affairs of the European Commission. He studied law and previously worked as a judge. Before joining DG Home, we worked, i.a. in the Directorates General External Relations and Enlargement, and the Directorate General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

Julien Jeandesboz 

Julien Jeandesboz (Chair) is Assistant Professor of Political Science and contributor to the ‘European Union in a Global Order’ MSc programme at the University of Amsterdam. He researches EU border control and neighborhood policy, and has co-authored a number of reports for European Parliament on, i.a. ‘smart borders’ and the Prism affaire. 

Published by  Spui25