Germany Delays ACTA Signature, Wants More Discussion 72
First time accepted submitter willodotcom writes "Germany has joined Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in delaying their signing of ACTA, citing 'time to carry out further discussions' as the reason."
Re:That confirms (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Very reasonable (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Very reasonable (Score:5, Informative)
The European Parliament (at the top of the food chain) is already deeply suspicious of what the Commision is doing with ACTA and asked them to clean their act up in March of last year.
Some quotes from the report [europa.eu]:
2. Expresses its concern over the lack of a transparent process in the conduct of the ACTA negotiations, a state of affairs at odds with the letter and spirit of the TFEU; is deeply concerned that no legal base was established before the start of the ACTA negotiations and that parliamentary approval for the negotiating mandate was not sought;
3. Calls on the Commission and the Council to grant public and parliamentary access to ACTA negotiation texts and summaries, in accordance with the Treaty and with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents;
4. Calls on the Commission and the Council to engage proactively with ACTA negotiation partners to rule out any further negotiations which are confidential as a matter of course and to inform Parliament fully and in a timely manner about its initiatives in this regard; 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;
5. Stresses that, 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;
6. Deplores the calculated choice of the parties not to negotiate through well-established international bodies, such as WIPO and WTO, which have established frameworks for public information and consultation;
7. Calls on the Commission to conduct an impact assessment of the implementation of ACTA with regard to fundamental rights and data protection, ongoing EU efforts to harmonise IPR enforcement measures, and e-commerce, prior to any EU agreement on a consolidated ACTA treaty text, and to consult with Parliament in a timely manner about the results of the assessment;
I'm pretty sure the Commission hasn't done any of that, so if the Parliament gets involved again it's doomed. Hopefully this weekend's protests will help get that done.
Re:emigrate to where? (Score:5, Informative)
They have a small minority of maybe 5% of right wing nutjobs (but as you are american it is really nothing you can't handle) but other than that it's probably the most democratic place on earth right now.
Just to justify this : reaction of the US government after 9/11 => Patriot act and 2 wars
Reaction of the mayor of Oslo after the shootings this year by far-right terrorrist : "We need even more democracy".
Salaries are great, inequalities are pretty low, social tension is almost inexistant, and the welfare state is rock solid and financed for almost ever by Oil money and the $400 billions Strategic investment Fund the Norvegian governement created with it.
Oh and EVERYBODY speaks english. Literally.