Most Americans, if they think about the European Parliament at all, probably imagine a bunch of left-wing backbenchers goofing off in Brussels or Strasbourg with little of value to say on international security. But Americans may have to update their opinion — and their approach to transatlantic cooperation — now that the European Parliament has made a most unparliamentary gesture: blocking a deal on sharing bank data with the United States. U.S. policymakers saw this deal as a cornerstone of international counterterrorism efforts, but now, those efforts are on hold. The EU Parliament’s move is a sign that it wants to be a player in transatlantic security decisions — and the United States will just have to accept it.
The current conflict concerns data sharing between a European banking consortium called SWIFT and U.S. security agencies. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department and the CIA began secretly requiring that SWIFT provide the U.S. government with information on all international banking transfers.
Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman,”European Parliament Takes a Stand,” Foreign Policy (online), February 26, 2010.