Following the vote in favour of PNR this morning in the European Parliament's justice and home affairs committee, the president of the S&D Group Gianni Pittella underlined the importance of the decision as the first step towards creating a common legal framework to combat terrorism. He reiterated the need for the plenary vote on PNR to be taken alongside the one for the Data Protection Package in early 2016.
President Pittella stated:
"The S&D Group has decided to back European PNR as one of an important set of tools to fight against organised crime and terrorism. PNR alone will not solve all our security problems however it represents a positive first step towards the creation of a common European investigative and intelligence framework. We desperately need coordinated and comprehensive European tools to tackle the threat of terror, as we have seen the ineffectiveness of the solely national approach.
"As Socialists and Democrats we are also pleased that an agreement has been reached with the other major political forces to vote on PNR in plenary at the same time as the Data Protection Package. We believe firmly that the exchange of personal data must go hand in hand with the creation of a clear legal framework for its use. This will now happen."
