Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

European Parliament All But Rejects ACTA

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the actaing-out-loud dept.

An anonymous reader writes "European Parliament today adopted Written Declaration 12/2010 which basically tells the Commission to all but drop the negotiations. From the article: 'Citizens from all around Europe helped to raise awareness about ACTA among Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) by collecting, one by one, more than 369 [of the MEPs'] signatures. With Written Declaration 12/20103, the European Parliament as a whole takes a firm position to oppose the un-democratic process of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and its content harmful to fundamental freedoms and the Internet ecosystem.'"

9 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. About Fucking Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    EU has been impressing me lately. They seem to actually care about good governance sometimes. That's one hell of a lot more than I can say about the USA and the "land of the free".

    1. Re:About Fucking Time by Hylandr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      EU has been impressing me lately. They seem to actually care about good governance sometimes. That's one hell of a lot more than I can say about the USA and the "land of the corporate free reign".

      Here, let me fix that for you...

      - Dan.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    2. Re:About Fucking Time by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The USA is the land of the free. The free are very happy there, and they have a ready supply of serfs to keep them that way.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:About Fucking Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      without any of the obligations...

      Taxes? pass them on to customers.
      Service? Who do they draft?
      License fees? pass them on to customers.
      Liability? We bought laws to protect us from our own greed and sins.

      All the *priveleges* without any of the responsibility.

  2. Re:369? by Kirijini · · Score: 5, Informative

    Really? They couldn't be bothered to count more than 369 signatures?

    There are 736 Members of the European Parliament. 369 is a majority.

  3. Further details... by petaflop · · Score: 5, Informative

    The 369 signatories (377 now) are all MEPs (members of the European Parliament). 369 is significant because it is a majority of the eligible votes.

    The linked page is just one of the relevant pages - you have to follow the links on the left to get at the rest. Here's a couple of interesting pages:
    http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Written_Declaration_12/2010_signatories_list
    http://www.laquadrature.net/en/ACTA

  4. Re:Wait, what? by butterflysrage · · Score: 5, Funny

    quick! to the Liberation-mobile!

    --
    the preceding post was not spell checked... suck it.
  5. Re:So, can I sigh in relief now? by lordholm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, the EP must approve (almost) all international treaties that the commission negotiates, the ACTA treaty is among these.

    Now, the EP have several options if they really want to force their will through. These include:

    1. A vote of no confidence, which would get the commission sacked.
    2. Try the old methods of Tiberius Gracchus and veto everything that comes out as a proposal from the commission or the council.

    --
    "Civis Europaeus sum!"
  6. Now just watch by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now let's all just watch the commission ignore the requests of the parliament. Unless it's really not important at all, of course.

    Power in the EU is not with the parliament, but with the commission. Even after the treaty both executive and legislative power remains with the commission, and they threw in a part of the judiciary to match.