Nataša Pirc Musar was one of the five European experts in the field of personal data protection, proposed by the Ministry of Justice and appointed by the European Commission into a special EU-USA ad hoc group, communicated the Office of Information Commissioner.

The purpose of the group is to establish the actual state of activities of the American National Security Agency (NSA) regarding mass information collection, and collection of personal data of EU citizens. Pirc Musar attended the first meeting in Brussels in the end of July. The information was: "The Ministry, however, didn't wish to take any obligation, neither as a submitter for security check for access to secret EU and NATO data, nor as a payer of costs for participation."

As European Commission isn't willing to cover these costs either, Pirc Musar cancelled her participation in the group, as her office does not have the necessary funds. "It is obvious that neither the Commission nor our government consider the work of the ad hoc group a priority, or of carrying any importance," is assumed by the Office of Information Commissioner.

Ministry "hoping for a favourable solution"
The government in the response on Twitter Social Network claim that the Ministry of Justice, due to austerity measures, has no budget funds for covering the cost of her participation in the group. Following the Information Commissioner's request "we are still intensively arranging for reimbursement of costs at European Commission, and at EU Council, and we are hoping for a favourable solution."

Snowden started an avalanche
The establishment of the group was caused by the disclosure by the former NSA analyst Edward Snowden on complete control of data from the internet and American telecommunication operators, and data stored in the so-called ‘clouds’ available at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and other, used on a mass scale by Europeans as well.

Andrej Čebokli, MMC
Translated by G. K.