I have a feeling the nlnet fund is bunch of nerds who have autonomy over the budget (ie: they are funding namecoin development). I don’t think they represent either the EU or Netherlands position when it comes to privacy.
On reviewing who is on it, I know several members of the board. I would not call them "nerds" in the pejorative sense they're serious people with decades of experience in the ICT sector. If you didn't mean it disparagingly, they are certainly nerdy, but they are not only a "bunch of nerds"
the sentence you are referring to said (pay attention to the italics): "I don’t think they represent either the EU or Netherlands position when it comes to privacy.
Not sure what got you fired here? This is hacker news, not a lawyers' forum. Also, personally, it was just a hunch from their continued namecoin support. I didn't even check the profiles of the committee.
But back to re-explain my point, I think these individuals were acting on their own volition rather than a directive or planned strategy from the EU/NL.
i think nlnet is only the executor.
NGI is a European Commission initiative. that's pretty close to a EU strategy i think.