Politics List
Why did they do that, then?
Subject: UKIP votes for ACTA secrecy
The secrecy surrounding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was discussed in Europarl yesterday (see article below for more info). A discussion which led to only 13 MEP's voting in favour of ACTA, an incredible development.
For of the 13 MEP's who voted for ACTA, 10 were from UKIP!!!!!
10, PEOPLE WHO WERE ELECTED TO REPRESENT THE UK; 10, PEOPLE WHO WERE ELECTED ON A PROMISE TO WORK AGAINST THE EU AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE. TALK ABOUT SMOKE AND MIRRORS!
WELL THOSE THOSE SAME 10 PEOPLE HAVE JUST VOTED IN FAVOUR OF A WEB OF SECRECY WHEREBY UNELECTED BODIES WILL CALL THE SHOTS - AND POLITICIANS WILL BE TOO SCARED TO TELL THE PUBLIC WHAT THEY ARE SIGNING US UP TO!
(Maybe someone should advice that Tory Chairman who has just declared that “The UK Independence Party embodies all the qualities, objectives and policies that I can support......"!!!)
Nigel Farage (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Marta Andreasen (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Stuart Agnew (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Gerard Batten (United Kingdom, UKIP)
John Bufton (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Trevor Colman (United Kingdom, UKIP)
The Earl of Dartmouth (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Mike Nattrass (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Paul Nuttall (United Kingdom, UKIP)
Nicole Sinclaire (United Kingdom, UKIP)?
Supported by 3 Dutch MEP's:
Louis Bontes (Netherlands, Partij voor de Vrijheid)
Laurence J.A.J. Stassen (Netherlands, Partij voor de Vrijheid)
Daniel van der Stoep (Netherlands, Partij voor de Vrijheid)
* One can assume that if they'd been present then, Derek Clark, David Bannerman, and Godfrey Bloom, would have followed their leader and voted alongside the rest of the UKIP MEP's!
[NOTE: The following article article implies that the majority of MEPs believe in freedom and democracy. Yet how can that be so when there are people being locked up all over Europe for merely exercising free speech or seeing their parties suspended or banned (ie Vlaams Bloc in Belgium) and so on.
So please read on the basis that the article below, is on this point, misleading.]
Euro Parliament threatens court action over ACTA secrecy
Demands to be kept in the loop
By OUT-LAW.COM • Get more from this author
Posted in Law, 12th March 2010 08:21 GMT
The European Parliament has threatened to take the European Commission
to the EU's highest court if it does not disclose the details of a
secret international copyright treaty.
The Parliament has voted by an overwhelming majority to adopt a
resolution demanding that the Commission limit the scope of the
proposed treaty and inform it of its contents immediately.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a deal being
negotiated by governments around the world outside of the confines of
existing trade bodies such as the World Trade Organisation or the
World Intellectual Property Organisation. The Commission is
negotiating on behalf of the EU's 27 member states.
Secrecy has surrounded the two-year negotiations from the start and
critics have alleged that figures from copyright-reliant industries
such as music and film have been allowed to see more of the proposals
than the citizens of the governments involved.
The Parliament has adopted by 663 votes to 13 a resolution which
insists that the Commission share with it the details of the plans and
underlines the fact that the Commission cannot negotiate anything not
already covered by EU law.
"According to documents leaked, the ACTA negotiations touch on, among
other things, pending EU legislation regarding the enforcement of IPRs
[intellectual property rights] and the so-called ‘Telecoms Package’
and on existing EU legislation regarding e-commerce and data
protection," it said.
"The ongoing EU efforts to harmonise IPR enforcement measures should
not be circumvented by trade negotiations which are outside the scope
of normal EU decision-making processes," it said. "Any agreement
reached by the European Union on ACTA must comply with the legal
obligations imposed on the EU with respect to privacy and data
protection law."
The Parliament said that under new government structures introduced by
last year's Lisbon Treaty it will have to approve any measures
negotiated by the Commission.
The resolution said that since the passing of the Lisbon Treaty the
Commission must inform Parliament on the progress of international
negotiations, but said that it had been kept in the dark. MEPs
insisted that they be informed now what shape negotiations are taking.
"[The Parliament] calls on the Commission and the Council to grant
public and parliamentary access to ACTA negotiation texts and
summaries," said the statement.
"Unless Parliament is immediately and fully informed at all stages of
the negotiations, it reserves its right to take suitable action,
including bringing a case before the Court of Justice in order to
safeguard its prerogatives," it said.
The Parliament's resolution demands not only that the Commission
publish information about the current process, but that it change the
negotiating process itself.
"[Parliament] expects the Commission to make proposals prior to the
next negotiation round in New Zealand in April 2010, to demand that
the issue of transparency is put on the agenda of that meeting and to
refer the outcome of the negotiation round to Parliament immediately
following its conclusion," it said.
The data protection advisor to EU institutions, the European Data
Protection Supervisor (EDPS), warned last week that the ACTA
negotiations threatened to undermine EU laws on data protection and
privacy.
"Whereas intellectual property is important to society and must be
protected, it should not be placed above individuals' fundamental
rights to privacy and data protection," said EDPS Peter Hustinx. "A
right balance between protection of intellectual property rights and
the right to privacy and data protection should be ensured. It is also
particularly crucial that data protection requirements are taken into
account from the very beginning of the negotiations so as not later on
having to find alternative privacy compliant solutions."
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