U.S. and Portugal sign criminal information sharing

UNCLAS LISBON 000371

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE; L/CA; L/LT; CA/P/IP
DHS for OIA/Visa Waiver Program Office
DOJ for OIA: Thomas Burrows

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS CMGT PREL PTER PO
SUBJECT: U.S. and Portugal sign criminal information sharing
agreement


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In Lisbon, Portugal on June 30, Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano signed an
agreement with Portugal on Preventing and Combating Crime (PCC).
The GOP Ministers of Interior Affairs (MOI) and Justice (MOJ) both
signed the agreement for Portugal, with Foreign Minister Jorge Amado
acting as host. The USG initially proposed this agreement (under
the name "Preventing and Combating Serious Crime") to the GOP in
2008 as part of enhanced security arrangements mandated by the 9/11
Act for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries. (Note: Portugal became
the 12th EU member state and 13th country to have signed such an
agreement with the U.S. End Note) The public signing ceremony
occurred at the Portuguese Foreign Ministry after a roundtable
meeting between the U.S. and the three GOP ministers. A brief press
conference followed the signing. END SUMMARY

2. (SBU) At the meeting preceding the signing, FM Amado emphasized
the importance of the transatlantic relationship. Portugal believes
in strong bilateral cooperation with the U.S., as evidenced by the
conclusion of this PCC agreement, he said. At the same time,
Portugal's European Union (EU) membership is fundamental and the
U.S. can count on Portugal to support a strong transatlantic
relationship within the EU, he said. Secretary Napolitano responded
affirming the strong bilateral relationship and thanking Portugal
for helping to resolve the issue of resettling Guantanamo detainees.
Concerning the EU, Secretary Napolitano agreed and stressed the
U.S. also sought partnership and meaningful information exchange
with the EU.

3. (SBU) MOI Rui Pereira noted that since 9/11 Portugal had approved
new counterterrorism laws and reinforced the security of its
personal identification documents, such as by introducing electronic
passports and national identity cards and by automating the entry of
passengers at Portuguese international airports. Secretary
Napolitano mentioned she hopes the GOP will also conclude
negotiations with the U.S. (Note: under HSPD-6 End Note) to exchange
terrorist screening information.

4. (SBU) MOJ Alberto Costa mentioned the early June signing by
Secretary Clinton and FM Amado of the extradition and mutual legal
assistance treaties between the U.S. and Portugal in Washington as
an additional example of useful recent progress. He also emphasized
the difficulty in negotiating this PCC agreement where Portugal had
to juggle strict EU and Portuguese protections for personal data
privacy with the need to enhance cooperation with the U.S. to fight
criminal and terrorist activity. He said that this PCC agreement
balances and meets those requirements. (Note: Members of the
Portuguese delegation noted that the U.S. having signed similar
agreements with Italy in May and Spain earlier in June had eased
Portuguese approval. End Note) He also noted that Parliamentary
approval of the agreement would be required but should not be a
problem citing the recent success of the extradition treaty and the
pro-U.S. attitude among the majority of Portuguese.

5. (SBU) FM Amado concluded the meeting by saying that competing
themes of justice and security must be reconciled and cited the
example of the US-EU joint declaration on Guantanamo as another
example of this, in addition to the PCC agreement.


6. (SBU) COMMENT: The GOP noted Secretary Napolitano was the first
cabinet member of the Obama administration to visit Portugal. The
tone of the meeting was very positive and the mood upbeat. Both
sides were clearly very happy that the PCC agreement had been
concluded, literally only hours before Secretary Napolitano's
arrival. Foreign Minister Amado was instrumental behind the scenes
in pressing Justice Minister Costa at the last minute to overcome
traditional MOJ concerns about privacy laws and the use of personal
data. Amado was more cautious on progress on the HSPD-6 agreement,
telling Embassy Consul General after the meeting that progress on
this matter would be more difficult than on the PCC given political
concerns and greater data privacy issues. Nonetheless, we have been
advised that the MFA has completed its work on the GOP response to
the USG's HSPD-6 proposal and the ball is now in the MOI's and MOJ's
court. We've also been told that no movement on this can be
expected before national elections in late September. END COMMENT

7. (SBU) The DHS Delegation has cleared this cable.
BALLARD