madam president on behalf of the alde group i strongly welcome the fact that this resolution calls for a strengthened strategic partnership between the eu and the us as a cornerstone of eu external policy
it also rightly reiterates the role of an integrated transatlantic market by twenty fifteen
we must not let the trees of myriad disagreements on specific issues obscure the wood of an overwhelming interest in common values and objectives and action on promotion of democracy and human rights resolution of conflicts and protection against security threats among others
on the economic side the alde group has emphasised the need to avoid regulatory arbitrage in the financial sector and to address issues such as too big to fail institutions
we have put in an amendment to paragraph thirty-nine since as far as i can see there simply was no g two leaders agreement to work on a financial transaction or tobin tax so it is absurd to welcome such an agreement even if we have already done so erroneously in the g twenty resolution
the alde group also calls for deletion of paragraph thirty-eight which appears to seek the abolition of intellectual property rights
but as mrs malmström has explained a large part of the transatlantic relationship relates to justice and security matters
the alde group fully supports close cooperation in this area but it must respect fundamental rights including privacy and be progressed within a democratic and transparent framework
in that respect it is a pity that meps have not been consulted on the joint statement to be agreed next week especially as with the lisbon treaty almost all of these matters come within codecision
it is puzzling why the commission and council are promoting a new agreement on access to swift financial data on eu citizens when the mutual legal assistance agreement allows for specific requests
i would like an answer on that
finally it is a pity that the new context of justice and extradition cooperation nonetheless permits the completely unjustified extradition from the uk of gary mckinnon a computer hacker who has asperger's syndrome rather than his being prosecuted in the uk
very finally i fully support what commissioner ferrero-waldner said about visa-free travel for all eu citizens and we are very critical of a visa lite fee for the esta
