Spain says EU lawmakers will get a chance to vote on controversial EU-US data-sharing deal

Spain: EU Parliament to vote on EU-US bank data

BRUSSELS — Spain’s Europe minister says the European Parliament will get to vote on a controversial deal to transfer banking data to U.S. authorities to help them track down terrorist financing.

European Union governments rushed through the agreement the day before a Dec. 1 EU treaty would have forced them to give EU lawmakers a say. The parliament will now vote on it before it is scheduled to enter into force on Feb. 1.

The deal extends the EU’s data-sharing with the U.S. for nine months. The EU and the U.S. must in the meantime negotiate a longer-term accord that meets the approval of members of parliament.

EU lawmakers have been very critical of transferring personal data to the U.S., saying this could contravene data privacy rules and damage civil liberties.