[davidvaughan]

It is possible that the resolution gained more votes because of the trade war.

In general, Members of the European Parliament have less understanding of business and trade than businesspeople and traders, and in my view[0] tend to follow their emotions more in those areas.

Some also have a streak of anti-Americanism, in varying degrees. As the heat increases, this sort of resolution may occur more frequently.

I'm sceptical of the notion that MEPs all voted according to their devotion to fundamental rights.

None of this means that I believe pursuing the resolution into legislation is a bad or a good idea. I'd have to see (and understand the consequences of) the proposed measure.

[0]This is an impression; I have no empirical data

[Angostura]

> I'm sceptical of the notion that MEPs all voted according to their devotion to fundamental rights.

This is what it comes down to, your disbelief that MEPs could have a genuine interest in their constituents' privacy.

[ferongr]

It's the rational belief to hold.

[Certhas]

You can't just claim a position is rational just because it is cynical.

[Nasrudith]

It seems like a sadly reasonable assumption given past behavior and their own spying and loopholed cooperation.

[simonh]

So you don’t think passing GDPR and the previous data protection legislation going back decades, and enforcing them counts as evidence? I’m sorry, that is a bit snarky, but the EU has been pushing strongly in this direction for a long time and it’s been perfectly apparent it was going to come up hard against the US on this.

[Silhouette]

So you don’t think passing GDPR and the previous data protection legislation going back decades, and enforcing them counts as evidence?

Sure it does, but so do all the loopholes they wrote into those laws so EU member states could continue their own surveillance programmes and data seizure powers, and for that matter all the then-illegal spying programmes that were retrospectively legalised when Snowden et al brought them to light. Let's not pretend the EU and its members are whiter than white in this area, nor that the EU is above attacking the US tech sector through non-technical means.

[bryanrasmussen]

>It is possible that the resolution gained more votes because of the trade war.

or probably just general dissatisfaction with the U.S.

[Certhas]

The MEPs are simply doing their job, which is a different one than that of businesspeople and traders.