The European Parliament revived negotiations of a deal with the EU member states on the so-called Passenger Name Records (PNR) system, originally proposed in 2011, after the attacks on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo took place in Paris in January.
"It is time to take the measure that we have been talking about for five years," Diaz said, as cited by the Spanish news agency EFE.
The politician assured that the new law would not violate the rights of citizens, but help identify “those who might be suspected of terrorism."
“We believe that greater security is a guarantee of greater freedom, and freedom can not exist without security," Diaz added.
The European Parliament's Civil Liberties and Justice Committee approved the first PNR bill on July 15. The draft allows for collection of personal data of flight passengers entering or leaving the European Union. According to the bill, 60 different categories of PNR data should be collected, including contact information, travel routes and credit card data.
Spain raised its terror threat level on Friday following terrorist attacks in Paris earlier that day.
