The European Parliament and Transatlantic Relations: Personal Reflections

Abstract

The European Parliament plays a crucial role in transatlantic relations in a number of ways: as an institution directly engaging in political dialogue, in the negotiation of international agreements and in scrutinising key dossiers at committee level. The LIBE committee has relevant competence in the areas of law enforcement, data protection and migration and carries out these responsibilities via annual missions, own-initiative reports, hearings and scrutinising ongoing dossiers such as the Umbrella Agreement, data protection issues affecting transatlantic relations and US visa waiver programme reform. The chapter provides an update on these issues, in addition to other key transatlantic agreements such as the EU–USA PNR agreement, the new data protection reform package, the Privacy Shield, the Umbrella Agreement and the TFTP.