BRUSSELS – The European Parliament on Thursday strongly rejected a deal that would have allowed U.S. authorities access to European bank transfers — a vote the United States said disrupted an important source of information for anti-terror investigators.

EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, voted 378-196 against the deal with 31 abstentions. The parliament's president, Jerzy Buzek, said the assembly wants more safeguards for civil liberties and believes human rights has been compromised in the name of security.

The U.S. mission to the EU said it was "disappointed" with the EU move, calling it "a setback for U.S.-EU counterterror cooperation." The vote came after lawmakers were contacted in recent days by several top U.S. officials — including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — "about the importance of this agreement to our mutual security."

European governments now must renegotiate the deal with the parliament, which would allow data sharing for nine months while the EU seeks a longer-term deal with the U.S.

The EU wants such an agreement to eventually let European authorities see U.S. banking information.