The European Parliament postponed its vote by one day

The European Commission refused on Monday to withdraw a controversial agreement with the US on the transfer of passenger data to the US authorities, as MEPs threatened to seek the EU's top court ruling on the matter. The European Parliament had given the Commission until Monday to withdrawa the EU-US passenger data transfer agreement threatening otherwise to vote today on whether to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. In a flurry of last minute activity, Parliament chief Pat Cox decided to postpone the vote until Wednesday (21 April) to allow MEPs to discuss their concerns with how the data will be used with external relations commissioner Chris Patten. Most of the political groups in the European Parliament feel that the transfer to US security agencies of data such as name, address, phone number and credit card numbers, are incompatible with EU data protection law and are seeking a ruling from the EU's top court on the matter. However Internal Market Commissioner Bolkestein told MEPs on Monday that the agreement is necessary. "The Commission does not consider that the international agreement [with the United States] amends the data protection directive", Mr Bolkestein told MEPs. "The international agreement is necessary", he added.