"In the European Parliament we tend to forget that security is a fundamental right of citizens just as much as the right to data protection" - began Ágnes Hankiss while speaking on behalf of the European People's Party. These two kinds of fundamental rights have to be balanced in the work concerning internal security policies.

 

Ágnes Hankiss highlighted two problems which have to be tackled. She pointed out that profiling - attacked by left-liberals with such hysterical anger - is an accepted and efficient instrument of national law enforcement practices without any breaches to personal rights. According to the MEP of Fidesz the European Commission has to draw up urgently an exact and common definition of profiling so that those with baseless worries finally understand the key essence of the issue.

 

Ágnes Hankiss emphasized that reciprocity is indispensable namely that besides giving we also need to receive important information relevant in counter-terrorism and the fight against organised crime. In order to achieve this we need to establish the EU's own PNR-system, in other words a European institutional framework capable to receive and process the incoming data.

 

Ágnes Hankiss suggested that in the possession of its new mandate Europol should have a leading role in operating the EU's own PNR mechanism, as it is able to ensure standardized and equal access to information of Member States.