That's just the thing. The US didn't ask the EU, they just secretly subpoenaed the records from SWIFT, which had a mirror server in the US with all the records

That's just the thing. The US didn't ask the EU, they just secretly subpoenaed the records from SWIFT, which had a mirror server in the US with all the records (incl. transactions inside the EU). Breaking several countries privacy laws in the process. SWIFT has changed their infrastructure to no longer mirror to the US, So the US pressured the European Council to create an interim agreement allowing the US to access EU banking data. This agreement was made one day before the Lisbon Treaty went into effect, which gives the European Parliament increased powers. So while the EP can't cancel the interim agreement, they've now voted against the continuation of the deal. The resolution & Some background: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A7-2010-0013+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//... Council overrules Parliament: http://www.euractiv.com/en/justice/council-overrules-parliament-banking-data-deal/article-187834 http://www.euractiv.com/en/justice/council-overrules-parliam... Recommended search term: "swift tftp"