Although howls of protests had been raised, European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday gave the OK for further negotiations between the EU and the US on a new agreement to allow American authorities continued access to bank transfer data in terrorism investigations.

The EU Commission and the United States consider providing access to banking data of the SWIFT banking transfer service essential in uncovering the financing of terror networks.

SWIFT, the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is moving its primary server and database from the United States to the Netherlands. Without a new agreement, the change of location would leave American officials with access only to information on Americans. The US would then have to ask individual EU countries for access to their data.

The ministers approved a mandate for the European Commission, the EU's executive, to negotiate an agreement.

German and European politicians from across the political spectrum have been vociferous in their condemnation of the proposed bank data transfer agreement.

"It is completely disproportionate and excessive that banking data is to be transferred even if no suspicion exists," said Juergen Trittin, German Green Party parliamentary group leader. "That the EU wants to allow this kind of wholesale spying is not acceptable."

But law-enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic have supported the data access, and the EU says US oversight has been an "important and effective tool" in fighting terrorism financing and preventing attacks.

"It is no question of giving the US a blank check, as some critics seem to suggest," EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot said in a statement. "There is no unrestricted and unverified access; on the contrary, there are clear rules and clear limits."

If the Lisbon Treaty comes into force in 2010, as the EU hopes, the European Parliament will have to approve any information sharing deals. But the treaty would not come into effect until the end of the year at the earliest, leaving a gap of several months with the SWIFT servers in Europe. During that time the US would have no access.

That would be "extremely dangerous," according to Barrot, who said a temporary agreement lasting just a few months is needed. If and when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, a new deal will have to be drawn up and approved by the EU Parliament.

Easing fears on Iceland

EU ministers also sought to reassure Balkan countries eager to the join the bloc that Iceland would not get special treatment and would undergo the same membership tests as them.

While Iceland has traditionally been uninterested in EU membership, the North Atlantic island nation has seen its economy devastated by the global financial crisis and many there feel EU membership would boost its financial stability.

While EU accession negotiations generally take years, Iceland's EU path is expected to be shorter and smoother than most because of its long democratic tradition and existing treaties and agreements it already has with the EU. Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Area trading groups.

However, on Monday, the EU's current president, Sweden, said Iceland cannot expect fast-track entry.

"There is no fast-track for Iceland but rather a shorter track because they are already a part of the single market and the Schengen area," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told reporters ahead of Monday's meeting.

Bildt said Iceland's EU ambitions should not overshadow those of the Balkan states.

"We need to focus on the western Balkans," he said, referring to the former Yugoslav countries and Albania. Only one of those, Slovenia, is currently an EU member.

"There is a need for momentum on European integration in the Balkans," he said.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband agreed: "There is no chance of the Balkans being forgotten," he said. "It is not about one country being privileged over another, it is about all countries being treated equally and fairly."

Global hot spots

The around 200 unarmed EU ceasefire monitors in Georgia posted there since the country's war with its Russia-backed breakaway provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia last year will stay until at least September 2010, the foreign ministers agreed.

"The mission's presence on the ground remains a key stabilizing factor," read a joint statement approved at the Brussels meeting.

The EU mission is the only international mission on the ground in Georgia now, since Russia vetoed the extension of UN and OSCE observer missions that had been there previously.

The EU "noted with deep regret and concern that agreement has not been reached on the future of the UN and OSCE monitoring missions in Georgia. This development further underscores the crucial role of EUMM Georgia," the statement said, referring to the EU Monitoring Mission.

Keeping in line with a United Nations resolution, the EU adopted reinforced sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear and weapons tests.

The ministers passed without discussion a move to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1874 "in a robust way as requested" by EU leaders at a summit last month, a statement said.

The EU decided, in addition to UN sanctions, on the "autonomous listing of items subject to export ban, autonomous listing of persons and entities subject to travel ban and asset freeze, enhanced financial vigilance and reinforced cargo inspections."

North Korea quit six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program after the security council censured it for a long-range rocket launch in April. In May, Pyongyang also staged a second nuclear test.

Jam/dpa/Reuters/AP

Editor: Neil King