Big News: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]
from the wowsers dept
Okay, things just got serious over ACTA. In our post on Latvia bailing on signing ACTA, we noted that in joining with Poland and the Czech Republic, these were still much smaller European states, and unlikely to have too much of an impact. But... now comes the really surprising news that Germany has decided that it won't sign. Germany, of course, is the largest EU economy. Details are sparse, but even though the country had earlier agreed that it would sign it, the Foreign Office has apparently revoked that decision and will not sign the agreement... We'll update more later as more details come in. However, this is big news and could really stop ACTA. Update: Another source on this suggests that Germany is saying that it is putting its plan to sign on hold, but may sign later. It had intended to sign soon, but is now going to wait until the EU Parliament decides how it wants to go. So they haven't dropped ACTA entirely, but this definitely shows that the protests are worrying politicians.
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The wheel is turning
(to parphrase a dinosaur)
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ACTA
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Re: ACTA
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Re: Re: ACTA
If it's a doubling of support then the effect on the "old line" parties would be immense.
This may be one of the reasons the Germans are holding off.
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Re: ACTA
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Germany is full of pirates!
amidoinitrite?
(but seriously, if they stick by this, this is a HUGE win....for now)
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Re: Germany is full of pirates!
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Maybe politicians finally noticed there's a Pirate Party, but no Copyright or Patent or Intellectual Property party. Kind of says which sides their citizens are on, doesn't it.
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No they'll wait till they think nobody's watching, then they'll convene only those in favor of it and do it in secret.
Gotta watch these politicians, they're sneaky.
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The UK, well at least England, is a first past the post system which tends to "punish" new parties rather than reward them. The proportional system used in Germany allows for new and not yet in the mainstream parties such as the Pirate Party and the Greens to emerge and win seats.
At this point voting Pirate in the UK is a protest vote only, in Germany it means something.
(By the way I'm no defender of proportional representation particularly in large countries such as Canada until some of the kinks get worked out such as how do we fire a rep who isn't performing as we'd like him/her to. Virtually impossible under most forms of PR.)
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Speechless...
*slow claps* Go team!
Even if this is just "passing the buck" to the EU, everyone faltering on it because they're afraid of public backlash will push ACTA to die.
Wandering alone.
A vagrant with no citizenship, no land to claim as his own.
Pity him, feel his pain, his uncertainty.
Poor, destitute, and downtrodden, he'll wander the blighted, war-stricken landscape, searching for news of his family.
But his parents SOPA and PIPA have already died in the war, and he hasn't heard from his brother TPP for months.
There. Found my sarc.
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Re: Speechless...
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Waiting for the summer
Seriously, the German minister for Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, argues that the EU should explain why ACTA is needed. Current German law would already be enough to comply with ACTA.
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ACTA
Already 2000000 people did.
More people, more pressure. Sign !!!!!!
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ACTA
Already 2000000 people did.
More people, more pressure. Sign !!!!!!
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Why? Because for a couple of days, it would've seem like the eastern europe countries might be trying to leverage other stuff with this desaprobation. Because of EU's structure, it gets difficult if a couple of countries desagree.
This treaty was pushed hard by France and other "wealthy" members, but it consequently opened a small crack: other european countries could use their signature to negociate.
Except that now that Germany is letting it in the air for a small bit:
1/ It begins to be newsworthy for more classics newspapers
2/ It legitimates the pull from eastern countries.
So even if its a very delicate pull, it's suffisient to implie better perspectives on the subject.
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Signing ACTA
She's made herself quite a name for actually strengthening consumer rights, pissing off the big lobbyists every now and then.
This ACTA signing business may become quite interesting... :-)
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That said, the German government is of the opinion that the national parliament needs to ratify it too. The conservative party supports ACTA, and Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger's party does largely too. So if the two partners come to an agreement internally, the national parliament will ratify ACTA. Ultimately, the European Parliament will be expected to vote on it too, by the summer, though, there are still some opportunities for campaigns.
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Her track record suggests that her concerns are genuine, not just voiced to appease protestors and voters.
Still, she's just one minister, and it's very likely - pretty much a given - that the majority of the rest is in favor, so don't relax just yet.
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Interesting
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