The controversial Swift bank data agreement is modified, doubts remain. MEPs say no to cloned food. Belgian caretaker PM talks about his country's presidency.

The News: Swift agreement - Cloned food - Yves Leterme on Belgian presidency

It’s the 12th Belgian presidency   of the EU since 1957.

Caretaker Belgian PM Yves Leterme   met MEPs this morning,

Reconciling counter terrorism and   privacy, that’s all coming up later.

What will end up on our plates?   Cloned animals and nanotechnology.

With no government in place,   it’s the exiting PM Yves Leterme

who presented the Belgian presidency’s   programme for the next 6 months.

It has 5 points and the motto   ‘less promises, more deeds.

He also reassured sceptics about his   country’s ability

to take on the rotating presidency   of the EU.

His country is without a government   and its citizens divided,

but caretaker Belgian PM Yves Leterme   arrived in the EP with a mission.

He told MEPs that Europe needs to   “review its vision of the future”.

His priorities:   the financial crisis, employment,

And Belgian domestic politics   would not be an excuse:

You are of course aware of the fact that elections   have been taking place in my country

and that the negotiations for the formation   of a new coalition will take some time

and that my government is a so-called   caretaker government.

Well I’d like to assure you that this   will not at all impair

the vigour and enthusiasm   of our presidency.

The political groups   were broadly supportive:

Problem number 1 in Europe   is its weak growth

and insufficient capacity   to create wealth and jobs.

That’s where your presidency   must get to work.

Belgium is a country which by its presidency   reinstates its strong European position

and this is one of the reasons for which this   presidency is a great opportunity for us all.

Though some couldn’t resist   sniping at all things Belgian:

We have before us a caretaker Prime Minister,

but we all turn a blind eye and pretend that it’s   business as usual. It simply isn’t.

The Belgians say their programme wasn't   cobbled together at the last minute.

Its part of an 18-month plan drawn up   with Spain and Hungary

As seen, the Belgian PM was my guest   this afternoon. Here’s a quick glimpse.

Mr Leterme, hello   and welcome to EuroparlTV.

Your motto is simple:   Less promises, more deeds.

Do you think we've made too many   promises to EU citizens?

Or does Belgium want to keep   a low-profile?

EU citizens are a bit frustrated   with politicians

That's why we said let's promise less,   and concentrate on results.

Let's see how we can   achieve that by December,

a Belgian presidency having   progressed with the dossiers.

How are you going to achieve   that by December,

normally it won't be you   sitting opposite me by that date?

Noone's irreplaceable,   I'll have a successor someday,

maybe next week,   or in two or three months.

Ever since January I've been preparing   the Belgian presidency

with all the governments of Belgium   and we've seen that

90% of the re-elected MPs   support the presidency programme.

So whoever's at the head   of the Belgian presidency

we'll see soon enough, certainly in   December it'll be someone else,

the government   will keep its programme.

Let's look at it, all on one page,   the social axis,

environment, liberty, security and justice

It's an important dimension,   and is growing in importance.

We now need to get Mrs Ashton's   External Action Service up and running.

European diplomats   will replace national ones over time.

It's very urgent to have a stronger   presence on dossiers like the Middle East

Then we'll have to guide   EU enlargement well.

You can see the rest on www.europarltv.eu.

Five months ago the EP refused   to give EU citizens’ bank data

to the US for counter terrorism purposes,

The new agreement takes   these worries into account.

As of August 1 this agreement   will allow the US Treasury

to access financial data from 8,000   institutions and banks from 200 countries

managed by the Swift company,   but the road is a rocky one.

After months of deadlock between   the different EU bodies,

an agreement emerged   on EU-US bank data transfer

New guarantees on data   monitoring were negotiated.

We’re going to have a European official

saying yes or no on each occasion that   the United States

wants to extract data   which belongs to EU citizens.

Despite these guarantees   some concerns were raised

The Greens believe this agreement is not   in substance better than the first,

because it’s built on a mass data transfer   from the EU to the US

Eventually the EU should be able   to provide individual data

to the US authorities and not in bulk   as originally envisaged.

It's a step in the right direction   for this MEP.

There’s going to be within 3-5 years a   concrete timetable to have an EU system,

a system on EU soil for the extraction   of data here in the European Union.

To ensure data protection, Europol,   the EU police body,

will have to check if US requests   meet EU requirements.