Top Dutch parliamentary officials on Thursday called for a probe into the source of a leak surrounding the sharing of Dutch telephone data with a US intelligence agency.
The leadership of the Lower House "has unanimously decided to propose the institution a commission of inquiry," into the suspected 2014 leak, the chamber's speaker Anouchka van Miltenburg said.
The decision comes after a Dutch newspaper last year reported classified information about a parliamentary committee meeting in which the transfer of around 1.8 million telephone details by the Netherlands to the US National Security Agency was discussed.
The closed meetings of the Intelligence and Security Services Committee are attended by Dutch political party leaders and they are barred from discussing the details -- even with fellow MPs.
The respected NRC daily in February 2014 however quoted from secret minutes taken at two meetings on December 12, 2013 and February 5, 2014.
The paper aimed to show that some issues around the data transfer had been discussed in secret well before parliament was even informed.
The top leaders of the Lower House now want the leak investigated.
"We plan to call a vote by the latest next week over the composition and the commission of the inquiry's mandate," Van Miltenburg said.
Under Dutch law, only the government or parliament can call on the Supreme Court to investigate MPs or former MPs, the daily Volkskrant said.
Public prosecutors said they could not open a prosecution under the law, but they had identified "one or more members of the commission that may be linked to the leaks" without pointing any fingers.
Top Dutch parliamentary officials on Thursday called for a probe into the source of a leak surrounding the sharing of Dutch telephone data with a US intelligence agency.
The leadership of the Lower House “has unanimously decided to propose the institution a commission of inquiry,” into the suspected 2014 leak, the chamber’s speaker Anouchka van Miltenburg said.
The decision comes after a Dutch newspaper last year reported classified information about a parliamentary committee meeting in which the transfer of around 1.8 million telephone details by the Netherlands to the US National Security Agency was discussed.
The closed meetings of the Intelligence and Security Services Committee are attended by Dutch political party leaders and they are barred from discussing the details — even with fellow MPs.
The respected NRC daily in February 2014 however quoted from secret minutes taken at two meetings on December 12, 2013 and February 5, 2014.
The paper aimed to show that some issues around the data transfer had been discussed in secret well before parliament was even informed.
The top leaders of the Lower House now want the leak investigated.
“We plan to call a vote by the latest next week over the composition and the commission of the inquiry’s mandate,” Van Miltenburg said.
Under Dutch law, only the government or parliament can call on the Supreme Court to investigate MPs or former MPs, the daily Volkskrant said.
Public prosecutors said they could not open a prosecution under the law, but they had identified “one or more members of the commission that may be linked to the leaks” without pointing any fingers.
