Fifth EU Committee Recommends Rejection Of ACTA By European Parliament
from the how-many-times-do-we-have-to-say-no? dept
Another major milestone has been achieved in the push to get ACTA rejected by the EU: a fifth parliamentary committee has recommended that the European Parliament should refuse to ratify it when it is put to the vote on July 4th, effectively killing it in Europe. The other committees – on legal affairs, civil liberties, industry and international development – recommended rejection a few weeks ago, but today's vote by the international trade committee (INTA) was seen as the most important.
That was reflected during the vote. For example, the hall in which the meeting was held was unusually full, with a large contingent from the press. Unexpectedly, an EU politician who is not aligned with the main groupings turned up to vote, adding to the uncertainty about the final result.
The main INTA report recommended that the European Parliament should reject ACTA, but three amendments were tabled: two to accept ACTA immediately, and one to recommend waiting until after the European Court of Justice had handed down its judgment -- something not expected for a year or two.
At the last minute, the first two amendments were withdrawn, leaving only the call for a postponement of the European Parliament vote. This was rejected by the committee; but then somebody pointed out that there were more votes than people -- a problem EU committees have had before. This meant that that the vote had to be taken again, adding to the already-high tension in the meeting, to confirm that the amendment was indeed being rejected.
Finally, the INTA committee voted on the report containing the recommendation to reject ACTA, and passed it by 19 votes to 12. That was a wider margin than expected, but isn't necessarily representative of what will happen in the plenary vote in July. The European Commission will be making one last effort to convince EU politicians to vote for ACTA, and lobbyists will doubtless be out in strength during the next two weeks.
Gaining the support of five EU committees out of five is an extraordinary achievement -- six months ago, most commentators expected ACTA to sail through the European ratification process without much trouble. European politicians themselves have said that this change of heart is entirely due to the massive wave of protests against ACTA, both on the streets and in the form of thousands of emails and phone calls.
Although the battle is not over yet, it will be hugely significant if such citizen action does succeed in stopping ACTA, since it would send a message to politicians that the views of the public cannot be ignored when it comes to such major policy decisions about the Internet. In this respect, it would complement the similar revolt over SOPA and PIPA in the US -- something that made the current string of European victories against ACTA possible.
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Filed Under: acta, european commission, european parliament, european union, inta, pipa, sopa
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Re: List of MEPs ...
Don't forget to thank him for voting against ACTA too as he was one of the 19 :)
Meanwhile, here's the FULL list of MEPs on INTA -
ioannis.kasoulides@europarl.europa.eu
damien.abad@europarl.europa.eu
franck.proust@europarl.europa.eu
tokia.saifi@europarl.europa.eu
marielle.desarnez@europarl.europa.eu
jacky.henin@europarl.europa.eu
harlem.desir@europarl.europa.eu
marine.lepen@europarl.europa.eu
paul.murphy@europarl.europa.eu
matteo.salvini@europarl.europa.eu
gianluca.susta@europarl.europa.eu
francesca.balzani@europarl.europa.eu
david.sassoli@europarl.europa.eu
inese.vaidere@europarl.europa.eu
laimaliucija.andrikiene@europarl.europa.eu
marietje.schaake@europarl.europa.eu
jaroslaw.walesa@europarl.europa.eu
malgorzata.handzlik@europarl.europa.eu
iuliu.winkler@europarl.europa.eu
georgesabin.cutas@europarl.europa.eu
george.becali@europarl.europa.eu
mariaauxiliadora.correazamora@europarl.europa.eu
josefa.andresbarea@europarl.europa.eu
maria.badiaicutchet@europarl.europa.eu
catherine.bearder@europarl.europa.eu
keith.taylor@europarl.europa.eu
david.campbellbannerman@europarl.europa.eu
syed.kamall@europarl.europa.eu
emma.mcclarkin@europarl.europa.eu
william.dartmouth@europarl.europa.eu
christofer.fjellner@europarl.europa.eu
amelia.andersdotter@europarl.europa.eu
miloslav.ransdorf@europarl.europa.eu
jan.zahradil@europarl.europa.eu
libor.roucek@europarl.europa.eu
daniel.caspary@europarl.europa.eu
godelieve.quisthoudt-rowohl@europarl.europa.eu
albert.dess@europarl.europa.eu
silvana.koch-mehrin@europarl.europa.eu
helmut.scholz@europarl.europa.eu
bernd.lange@europarl.europa.eu
bela.glattfelder@europarl.europa.eu
elisabeth.koestinger@europarl.europa.eu
joerg.leichtfried@europarl.europa.eu
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Re: Re: List of MEPs ...
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there should also be changes made whereby those that want something implemented, when it appears it isn't going to happen, should not be allowed to further influence the vote by inviting themselves into the meeting prior to the vote, as Karel de Gucht did, especially when no one from the opposite side of the debate is allowed to do the same. this presents a totally biased impression on the whole procedure. perhaps after this fiasco, politicians will actually realise that the people are not going to sit back and be walked all over by big industries or their lackeys. trying to enforce new or changes to legislation in secret discussions between businesses and other interested parties but not allowing the public to be represented must never be allowed to happen again. i hope Ron Kirk is reading this and is prepared for the shit storm that will eventually hit him, as it hits all arse holes!!
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Re:
Citizen: "Hey why did you vote for that ACTA thing?"
MEP: "No, I voted against it."
Lobbyist: "Hey why didn't you vote for that ACTA thing we told you to vote for?"
MEP: "No, I did vote for it."
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language / more useful list of MEPs
@Rob8urcakes & @J: you can find a list that provides more information (like party affiliation, and voting records) here:
https://memopol.lqdn.fr/europe/parliament/committee/INTA/
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pro-ACTA shenanigans
There has been no shortage of stunts pulled that were, at best, questionable. Yesterday at 18:00, the person responsible for ACTA in the European Commission (roughly the executive branch of Europe), Karel de Gucht, held a firebrand speech to the committee, telling them how to vote. He added that if Parliament votes the wrong way, he’ll just re-submit ACTA to the next parliament (!). He was later rightfully scolded by some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for showing an unacceptable level of disrespect for the separation of powers and for the democratic institution of Parliament.
So this morning, the INTA committee gathered for its vote. Some industry group had managed to put up a poster across the entire door, urging them to vote for adoption. This breaks a very long set of very bureaucratic rules and raised quite a few eyebrows. The room was filled to and over capacity – TV cameras were lining the walls, and people were standing in the back and along the sides, all seats being taken in the quite large room. INTA had 32 items on its agenda, starting at 10:00, and ACTA was last."
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Re: pro-ACTA shenanigans
More worrying: The conservatives has gone from having no official opinion on ACTA but supporting it to going all in on delaying the final vote. ECR is completely behind them on that and even worse: ALDE was very vague in their comment and suggested that a delay may be a good idea.
Something very positive was also uttered. The second biggest group S&D expressed concerns over "proportionality of sanctions", which is the biggest pillar of the treaty. It is a weak expression but suggests that they cannot accept ACTA no matter how far the commission goes to showe it down peoples throats.
Given the commission will just resubmit ACTA if it is turned down now, a delay will be the same thing objectively speaking, but without the huge letdown of a no-vote hanging over it. Psychologically it is huge if EU votes no and it could end up screwing over the ratification from the other parties. In USA it might go to court as a question about procedure and authority, in New Zealand and Australia the ratification seems to be slowed down by concerns from libraries and universities. Without any 2 of those 3 ACTA is officially dead.
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EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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Re: Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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Re: Re: Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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Re: Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
Carthage must be destroyed.
They live in a small world surrounded by constant mails, phone-calls and meetings with lobbyists whos interests gets repeated in as many possible disguises as possible to avoid making the politicians see that they are getting manipulated constantly.
Carthage must be destroyed.
The european parliament is so secluded from the real world that most parliamentarians tend to flee home as soon as they get the chance.
Carthage must be destroyed.
By the way: Cato the elder is an inspiration for those people.
Carthage really must be destoyed.
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Re: Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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EU the new democracy and land of the free?
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Re: EU the new democracy and land of the free?
The people stopped SOPA and PIPA here in the US. Activating the community can persuade representatives, over the $ from the special interest groups.
Well our detractors would say it was Google but, hey, they refuse that the voice of the people won out over $.
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pro-ACTA poster
I wonder if the pro-ACTA campaign had been granted permission to use the image like this.
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Re: pro-ACTA poster
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Re: pro-ACTA poster
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Irony to come?
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