Swedish Pirate Party Member To Be EU's Youngest MP 152
First time accepted submitter genjix writes "In a few weeks Amelia Andersdotter will be the second Pirate Party member to take a seat at the European Parliament in Brussels. The 24-year-old Swede was voted in more than two years ago, but due to bureaucratic quibbles her official appointment was delayed. TorrentFreak catches up with the soon-to-be youngest MEP to hear about her plans and expectations."
Wow - nice pirot (Score:1, Offtopic)
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Nice... is there any way to post an image of a woman without it getting the sexual treatment?
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Not on the internet...
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http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TXAliqLA3jY/Sv1XHwjdQlI/AAAAAAAAJ-A/GMZgMmrEWcs/s400/1.jpg [blogspot.com]
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QqrrwHaKw_s/Sv6vy9SeDsI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jj4Hq8_nXOs/s320/amelia+andersdotter.bmp [blogspot.com]
Re:Wow - nice pirot (Score:4, Insightful)
Not on slashdot apparently. We could look at what she's saying and why, and be objective, but that would involve RTFA... Which is actually an interesting read.
Re:Wow - nice pirot (Score:5, Interesting)
Aye!
Then, in case one needs to know about male geeks being rude (maybe without wanting to, actually), read this:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/22786_To_My_Someday_Daughter.html [starcitygames.com]
That's a pretty long read, though. Maybe just watch "How to not be a Dick", by Matthew Garreth at Lugradio live 2008:
http://blip.tv/flamekebab/lrluk-2008-the-gong-a-thong-lightbulb-talk-extravaganza-matthew-garrett-1109597 [blip.tv]
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In this case it looks very deliberate.
While the photo appears quite flattering for the her, it is possible to be appreciative of a woman's looks without being a dick. It is possible to be assertive and male and geeky without being a dick too. But OP seems quite genuine in his dickishness.
More important here, is what she is saying, and what that may in time mean for policy in Europe. It is a small start, but a start never-the-less. And it certainly needs refining, but that will come.
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Applicable xkcd - 322 [xkcd.com].
Effectively, guys on the internet are arses.
Re:Wow - nice pirot (Score:4, Interesting)
Male geekiness is a sexual characteristic.
Male aggression is a sexual characteristic. /. exists because the male mind[tm] has certain characteristics which can be appealed to.
Another male sexual characteristic is to notice the physical features of women.
It's easy to take selective offence, especially when political correctness is so good at it. But while repressing antisocial acts may be good for society, repressing thoughts which make you uncomfortable will get you nowhere.
After all, it would be a liar who didn't notice the appearance of a politician, and a lying politician who said he did not consider his own appearance.
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You need to quit while you are ahead Julien.
Only 24? (Score:4, Interesting)
24 years old is very young to be in any parliament... That's how old I am!
I wish her luck. Hopefully the concept can spread around the world, the current copyright situation is quite crazy as it stands.
Re:Only 24? (Score:4, Funny)
That's how old I am!
Get off my lawn, you damn kids!
Re:Only 24? (Score:5, Informative)
Lots of European countries have very young MPs in national parliaments. The Minister of Taxes in Denmark is 26. The youngest MP in Denmark is 20.
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Lots of European countries have very young MPs in national parliaments. The Minister of Taxes in Denmark is 26. The youngest MP in Denmark is 20.
Pitt the Even Younger has those guys beat by more than a decade. Mind you he didn't actually win the Dunny-on-the-Wold byelection, so technically he never ended up as an MP...
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Yes, but that is because the voter accidentally brutally cut his own head off while coming his hair... Or was that election official? I forget.
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Yes, but that is because the voter accidentally brutally cut his own head off while coming his hair... Or was that election official? I forget.
You're thinking of Alan Beresford B'Stard, the Minister of Administrative Affairs.
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No, it was the voter. Look around 4:30 or so... [youtube.com]
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No, they just get richer.
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Yeah, people who never had a real job or a had to pay real taxes.
I'd guess that this is true for the rich people running the US political system as well.
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In too many instances it's true. What's worse is that many of the professional politicians go into politics and are not necessarily rich, but they become rich while in the government.
Gingrich, Pelosi, Boehner, etc., too many of them become rich basically by setting up some special deals for people/companies who then make them rich. Making millions while working for the government, and not because they are paid anything like that, but because they are paid off like that.
Re:Only 24? (Score:4, Insightful)
So in other words your previous pop at the young actually has nothing to do with age and older people can be just as greedy if not more so than younger people?
Really, the world financial state is in such a mess because of the baby boom generation, they wanted everything but didn't think money should ever be an obstacle. I think claiming the young would spend what isn't there is a bit rich in this context, particularly as they're the ones who really will now have to spend the rest of their lives paying for the older baby boomers spending spree.
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No, it was a jab at the young. Of-course it was. Young people don't have understanding of issues.
Older people also may not have understanding of issues, but the older people had the opportunity to learn, to gain some wisdom, to have experience, to learn from history and from their own lives.
Of-course professionals politicians are mostly useless, young or old. A big difference may be that the young may act upon their naivete and ignorance while the old may act upon pure self interest.
I don't trust the young
Re:Only 24? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's just complete tosh.
There are plenty more astute, smarter, young people in just about every country than there are stupid older people in that country's government so the idea that young people would make inherently worse politicians is absolute crap.
Worse, it is a lack of age spread in most countries governments that have led to the fact that many nations are enacting laws surrounding the internet that simply make no sense, because the politicians in question have no grasp of it, whilst many younger people would understand and could hence legislate on the issue in a far superior manner.
Sure the young may not have such a grasp of issues like pensions but that's why you need a mix of old and young.
If you genuinely believe the young can never have anything to offer as elected political representatives then I think that's more a sad reflection of your own ignorance and lack of worthfulness to the world of politics than an illustration of the real world.
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I think people who never worked in private sectors shouldn't even be allowed to vote,
Fuck it, why not just say "no one who doesn't have a net worth of at least ten million and annual income of a million should be allowed to vote". Probably best if they're white, male and own slaves too.
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If anything, young people should be privileged by the system. They have to live with the consequences of its collective decisions for longer, after all. Giving all power to a couple of old rich farts who will soon be dead anyway is a recipe for disaster - that's why the US is all screwed up and screwing up the world.
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No, young shouldn't be privileged by the system (and they can't be, because it's the old who run it, and they won't give privileges to somebody who is not themselves, that's just a fact.)
But you are correct on something - the entire idea of 'social contract' is completely screwed up. There is no such thing. The past generations voted in some assholes who put the country into a perpetual debt position by signing up for various pyramid schemes, so called 'social contracts'. Well, the young didn't sign any con
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the entire idea of 'social contract' is completely screwed up. There is no such thing.
Yes there is, or you don't have civilization.
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That's why Europe is all screwed up
What is screwing Europe up is the abandonment of even moderately socialist principles, and the growing power of right wing American wannabes.
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Yeah this is obviously why Sweden is riddled with crime, poverty, inequality, ignorance, debt and decay. No wait that's America, run by senile old millionaires.
Re:Only 24? (Score:4, Informative)
Canada has younger (19!); thanks to Quebec's recent purge of the Liberals/PQ, several "no hope of being voted in at all" candidates from the NDP got in.
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Some 70+ year old politicians act like immature teenagers so age doesn't worry me in the least.
Re:There are more important issues right now (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether the "piracy" issue is irrelevant or not, just sitting by and letting your rights be taken away while you are distracted by a larger issue is NOT going to help us in the future. It's precisely at times like this that you need to be vigilant of things that are going on and not just the big issues.
While you were distracted, what is to stop a far-right corporate drone from passing some legislation that further restricts your rights as a citizen and gives more rights to corporations?
You might as well pretend to be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand...
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I see Conspiracy Corner is open for business.
"You might as well pretend to be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand."
I'd sooner be an ostrich than some squawking hen who makes a big noise when the fox is outside the coop but is fast asleep when she's strung up on a conveyer belt to have her neck cut and be diced into nuggets.
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"I'd sooner be an ostrich than some squawking hen who makes a big noise when the fox is outside the coop but is fast asleep when she's strung up on a conveyer belt to have her neck cut and be diced into nuggets."
A very nice metaphor, but sadly also a straw man. The parent has only suggested that you keep your eyes open during both good and bad times, albeit with some hyperbole thrown in. It is considerably easier to get rights-restricting laws passed during mean times, as seen in the current effort to reduc
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It is considerably easier to get rights-restricting laws passed during mean times, as seen in the current effort to reduce labour laws in the UK.
But most people on slashdot would see these as being evil socialist restrictions of freedom of trade anyway. At some point you have to take sides, if you want a libertarian free-for-all don't be surprised if people see you as being on the side of big business and capitalism.
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"But most people on slashdot would see these as being evil socialist restrictions of freedom of trade anyway. At some point you have to take sides, if you want a libertarian free-for-all don't be surprised if people see you as being on the side of big business and capitalism."
Absolutely. But then, I'm not personally a libertarian.
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Conspiracy Corner? There is a long history of bad legislation on relatively small issues slipping through while The Big Issue has everyone's attention. I thought the ostrich analogy was a bit much, but you're changing my opinion on that...
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err, since when was there a right to piracy?
Re:There are more important issues right now (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, two things:
One: When will be a good time? There's ALWAYS something "more important". If the euro crisis is resolved, then the issue will be immigration, if that's resolved it will be something else, etc. So IMO they should go ahead.
Two: From TFA, the Pirate Party has about 7% of the vote, which is hardly "grandstanding" the issue. Whether the issue is significant or not is another debate. I think it is. Perhaps not as urgent as the euro crisis, but important none the less.
The fact that she's young perhaps indicates that she shouldn't take charge, but if everything is done by the old people then once they retire / die / whatever, there'll be a big leadership gap, so it's essential that the younger generation is involved to maintain any sort of stability and continuity in the resolution of these issues.
My 2c.
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And I'm sorry, while I may agree with some of what the pirate party stand for , the access or not of content on the internet is irrelevant compared to the ecomonic crisis affecting most of europe. This isn't the time or the place for grandstanding an insignificant issue such as this and while she may be very bright there is no way a 24 year old has enough life experience to deal with the issues that need resolving before europe collapses into an economic black hole.
Yeah... And see what "life experience" brought us now...
Governments in general need the new blood. Even though I agree that the piracy and copyright laws are secondary, the MEP may bring worries and topics to debate that may remain unnatended in a 40+ years-old toad-infested parlament. All for new views of the world, doesn't matter how "immature" they might be.
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"40+ years-old"
Wow , 40+, thats so old! If you're a teenager. For most people the 30s and 40s are when you finally mature into someone who can make sensible decisions and less bound over by knee jerk group think.
"All for new views of the world, doesn't matter how "immature" they might be."
Fine, using that logic lets vote pre-schoolers into parliament.
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Wow , 40+, thats so old! If you're a teenager. For most people the 30s and 40s are when you finally mature into someone who can make sensible decisions and less bound over by knee jerk group think.
With an attitude like that, no wonder. Especially as you yourself are advocating this "group think" you are talking about.
It is fairly accepted that diversity in a group tends to increase the quality of decision making. I do not see the reason in keeping intelligent people away from parliament just because they are not old or "mature" enough.
Fine, using that logic lets vote pre-schoolers into parliament.
That argument is akin to saying "Fine, using that logic lets only drink water and not eat anything" to somebody who said water is good for you. I hope you can see th
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"With an attitude like that, no wonder."
I'm a firm believer that if you are good enough, you are old enough. However, it is a fact that people in their 20s have no idea what it is like being 40, while the reverse is only partially true. I can only speak for myself, but I know that I believed myself quite mature when I was 24, and now I know for a fact that I wasn't.
Having said that, there is no particular reason why some exceptional 24-year-olds can't be mature enough. After all, it isn't like all 40-year-o
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However, it is a fact that people in their 20s have no idea what it is like being 40, while the reverse is only partially true.
I think I had at least some idea of what it would be like to be 40 when I was younger, I looked at my mother, father, aunts and uncles and their friends, and read books or watched TV and films about forty year olds.
You might as well say that no forty year old knows what it is like to be sixty.
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"I think I had at least some idea of what it would be like to be 40 when I was younger, I looked at my mother, father, aunts and uncles and their friends, and read books or watched TV and films about forty year olds. "
None of which gives you first hand knowledge. Your mother, father, aunts and uncles will never be fully honest about it and the books/movies will have an angle to make them interesting, which invalidates them as evidence.
"You might as well say that no forty year old knows what it is like to be
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"to somebody who said water is good for you. I hope you can see that argument is fallacious, and well, quite silly."
The only thing fallacious is your piss poor analogy. He said it doesn't matter how immature someone is therefor I took his argument to its logical conclusion. It would be like saying it doesn't matter how little nourishment is in some food , it should be considered equal with all other foods.
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Yeah, it was piss poor. I shouldn't have included it.
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Yeah... attacking the body of the text without touching the underlying rationale of it... Internet, why you fail to surprise me so...
Your "30s and 40s are when you finally mature" is an argument that reeks of conservationism thought, so I'll keep that in mind.
A Parliament (from the French parlement: discussion) is supposed to represent ALL strata of society. Starting from the moment that you gain the totality of your civil personality (usually 18 years old in Western countries) to the end of your civil pers
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"Your "30s and 40s are when you finally mature" is an argument that reeks of conservationism thought, so I'll keep that in mind."
You do that, and when you grow up you'll realise that in general I was right.
"Your so cherished "life experience" is not, in any way, an objective requirement "
I gather from that statement that you don't actually have much and therefor think its irrelevant. I really hope you don't vote.
"There is no reason, thus far, that can truly justify a restriction against young adults to be a
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All of your arguments are completely incorrect. You'll understand when you're older.
And you'll also understand why the Earth is flat. But only when you're older.
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Except that the "you'll understand when you're older" argument completely fails to answer any of your opponents' arguments and makes a number of assumptions that might not even be true (that they don't understand now but simply disagree and that they will agree in the future). I see no point in making such an argument.
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Yes. Age is not a cure for stupidity. Some people absorb information like a sponge and are well informed and well read at 20. Some people manage to plug their ears and know nothing at 60.
The only good way of finding out what a person knows is testing their knowledge. Age is irrelevant.
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Is it that outlandish to think that somebody who has lived twice as long, experienced twice as much, met twice the people, seen twice the history, would have slightly more understanding of the world? It certainly isn't always the case, but it would seem to make sense.
Some older people have learned from their experiences and acquired wisdom, most have just made more mistakes than someone younger, and carry on running in the same groove until they die.
The low proportion of wise to stupid people is the same for eighteen and eighty year olds.
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The knee-jerking will probably generally decrease in adult age, not so sure about the groupthink though.
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If that "content on the internet" included, say, detailled information regarding said economic crisis from governmental regulatory bodies and from ministries and other administrative institutions responsible for the governance of, say, the financial industry, would you still agree it is insignificant? Here in Germany we had several state banks nearly or actually go bancrupt because of mismanagement, ridiculously risky business practices and outright malpractice. Had all their operational information been fr
Re:There are more important issues right now (Score:4, Interesting)
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The crisis isn't so unrelated to what the pirate party stands for after all. At the root of the crisis, and the recent Occupy protests, is the fact that political power has been going on auction to corporations. This is also a source of a lot of the pirates' peculiar woes.
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And I'm sorry, while I may agree with some of what the pirate party stand for , the access or not of content on the internet is irrelevant compared to the ecomonic crisis affecting most of europe. This isn't the time or the place for grandstanding an insignificant issue such as this and while she may be very bright there is no way a 24 year old has enough life experience to deal with the issues that need resolving before europe collapses into an economic black hole.
Very few politicians acquire their positions based on their intelligence and ability to understand complex issues such as economic problems. The problem is that most voters cannot distinguish between an honest expert on economic issues and a politician who is a hand puppet for special interests that has learned how to recite a handful of easily digestable talking points on camera. And life experience does not do anything for you when it comes to understanding economics. It requires intelligence and educatio
Naysayers say nay (Score:4, Interesting)
After six or seven rounds of rubberstamping, the new Directive is put before the actual "Parliament", where MEPs can vote yea or nea, or just not show up in the hope that it will pass and they can plead ignorant neutrality. If they vote nea, it goes through the committee system a few more times so that some of the more deliberately egregious clauses can be elided. Honour satisfied, the Directive is duly passed in the form that the lobbyist really wanted, and Member States can begin the process of (mis)implementing it, or in the case of anyone South or East of Belgium, shrugging their shoulders and simply ignoring it.
And that's how democracy works.
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The US Government was described as a "three ring circus," I think the EU would take more than 2 minutes to describe!
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The US Government was described as a "three ring circus," I think the EU would take more than 2 minutes to describe!
But why does each ring have a bunch of clowns?
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would the commission need be made up out of elected members when you can get better people that are not necessarily political connected? See the present Italian government.
In many European countries the democratic process means the parliament gets elected and they appoint and control the government.
In case of the EU commission it is appointed by the democratically controlled governments of the member states and since fairly recent the EU parliament can approve or even veto policies as proposed by the commission.
Of course it would be better when the EU parliament had full democratic rights like introducing their own proposals or amendments but the UK and France have always and are still opposing to such an idea.
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Why would the commission need be made up out of elected members when you can get better people that are not necessarily political connected? See the present Italian government.
You mean the one in which the European Commission just turfed out the democratically elected Prime Minister and replaced him with a Goldman Sachs stooge? That Italian government? Following quick on the heals of rolling the leader of the Greek government (for the high crime of proposing to put the people's future to a vote by, you
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:4, Interesting)
You mean the one in which the European Commission just turfed out the democratically elected Prime Minister and replaced him with a Goldman Sachs stooge? That Italian government? Following quick on the heals of rolling the leader of the Greek government (for the high crime of proposing to put the people's future to a vote by, you know, the people) and replacing him with another European central banker?
You're seriously misinformed or just trolling. The European Commission did no such thing - in fact, they have been relatively absent in the entire debt crisis. You could argue that Merkozy got rid of Papandreou and Berlusconi, but that's rather dubious as well: Papandreou did himself in by calling for a referendum (a stupid unilateral move that was rightly met with condemnation from the other EU states; should you organise a referendum when your house is on fire?) and then reversing course a few days later, while Berlusconi (finally!) lost his majority in parliament. Governments fall all the time - I don't see what's undemocratic here.
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Papandreou did himself in by calling for a referendum (a stupid unilateral move that was rightly met with condemnation from the other EU states; should you organise a referendum when your house is on fire?)
Curiously, Greece is still there, their house hasn't burned down.
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Why would the commission need be made up out of elected members when you can get better people that are not necessarily political connected?
I challenge you to name one single person in the commission who is not "politically connected". Just one. And that does not even touch the question of whether they are "better".
To those who modded Teun insightful: Please spend a few minutes on a search engine of your choice and see for yourself just how good the commission is.
Commission staff better by bounds and leaps (Score:1)
Officials working in the Commission have all passed hard selection tests, in which the average number of candidates per post are in the 100s to 1. They are thoroughly checked on professional knowledge, languages spoken, work experience and ethics. Trust me, the lucky few who eventually get a job are very, very bright people worth their salt.
Can you say that much about your average MP? Where I come from, the Parliament is composed of:
a) medical-grade morons (25 - 35 %)
b) thieves and con men (the bulk)
c) know
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The civil servants may be good, but I'm not so sure about the actual commissioners who make the decisions. Previous British commissioners include Neil Kinnock, who was Vice President, and Peter Mandelslime. Both of them were failed politicians at Westminster.
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So this incredibly effective screening process must be why a whole College of Commissioners was forced to resign over charges of fraud and corruption [wikipedia.org] which led to the founding of the European Anti-Fraud Office. Right. The best of the best of the best, SIR!
But, for fairness' sake, let us take a look at the current College:
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a secret that the commission has been ripe for lobbyists, particularly before the parliament got their veto right with the Lisbon treaty in 2009. But it really comes down to the EU being in a half-state between a trade alliance and a federation. Is it an alliance of nations or does it want a European parliament like Congress and a federal government, with federal law, federal taxes, and federal economic policy? Let me tell you there's a vast opposition to that, not just in the UK and France. Even though the EU is expanding to cover more and more areas, for the most part it has to work through the national governments. If there's a top level meeting on education, it's the 27 ministers of education not an EU Department of Education. Despite the talk of an EU military force, there are 27 national militaries. There are 27 ministers on foreign policy who each keep their own ties to other nations and so on. And that is also why the EU passes directives, while the 27 national assemblies passes laws.
I mean, yes they could do away with that and pretty much become the United States of Europe. One parliament that makes law directly from Brussels on their own. It'd be democratic, as the EU parliament is democratically chosen. Some say all the important things are already decided there, but there's a difference between keeping the appearance of national governance and openly admitting that the EU is running the whole show. That is why most directives have optional components, so the national governments can pretend to have a say even though all the essential parts are required. And I say this coming from Norway, a non-EU member that's passed every EU directive since 1994 and is now maybe considering veto'ing our first. And of all the crappy directives they could have picked they chose a poor one, but at this point I just want to know what happens if we don't just bend over and take it.
"half-state between alliance and a federation" (Score:2)
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You're right about the trade alliance. In fact, it's my impression that EU is mostly about trade laws, consumer protection and giving money to support local development and cross-European research, although the euro necessarily has some requirements on the economies of the member states. With Greece it's obvious now why those requirements are necessary. And of course there's some foreign policy involved too since it makes sense to gang up when you're trying to strong-arm other countries.
But the EU doesn't r
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:4, Informative)
Hmmm. The parliament selecting the government is not a system which was developed in mainland Europe, I think. As far as I know it's derived from the British "crown in parliament" system. The electorate votes for the parliament, and all other functions of the state are derived from parliament.
In a presidential system like in the US or France you don't get to vote for the setup of all positions of government, either. Then the president gets to choose who is in charge of which department (though there can be parliamentary controls).
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:4, Interesting)
In 1748 he French philosopher Charles Montesquieu published a book called De l'esprit des lois, in it he proposes the Trias Politica or checks and balances.
Ideally his form of democratic government consists of three independent factors, the legislature (parliament), the executive (the government or administration) and the justice system.
Many western European governments follow this system and these three powers all have their own functions, ultimately controlled by the elected parliament.
This separation of power is considered a very important aspect of proper democratic government.
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It originated in the city state of Athens, which is now part of Greece.
Presumably you are not familiar with the recent developments in EU politics, but Germany is effectively controlling things by virtue of the fact that they are the only country with any money. The German Bundestag has to approve any addition money paid to the EU, so they can set the terms by which they are prepared to give it to them. There are for example rumours that the Irish government's draft budget was found in offices in the Bund
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"There are for example rumours that the Irish government's draft budget was found in offices in the Bundestag before it was presented to their own TDs for consideration."
This may well be true, but if you are arguing based on rumour, you have already lost IMHO.
Re:Naysayers say nay (Score:5, Insightful)
This is how in was in the past, but in the last few years the EP has managed to grab most of the power. Now the Commission is elected by them, making them the most powerful.
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Nom the EU commission still has alot more clout then the EP parlament. The EU parlament is basically toothless with little power.
In the end the EU parlament, over 99% of the time, affirm the EU commissions directives. The EU parlament can get some minor changes in - but thats all.
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Tosh!
The Commission drafts the legislation, then depending the legal domain, it will follow a predefined route as specified in the (Lisbon) Treaty. Most legal domains use the Co-Decision process by which the Council (comprising all EU Members and chaired by the member holding the rotating presidency) will first address technical details (civil servant technical experts from the members), as the legislation matures it moves through the Council's committees until the Council and Parliament can negotiation dir
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"Considerable poser" - now that's Freudian...
Yes, formally the parliament can change and even reject directives, but we all know what happens in the end. Remember SWIFT?
Savviness (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is the first time I've read an article on copyright/patent/trademark law, consisting mostly of the words of a particular politician, and thought to myself: Hey, this person knows more than I do about the subject. Like, a lot more.
Re:Savviness (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought this was also really interresting to see from a European commissioner:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/copyright-isnt-working-says-european-commission-10024835/ [zdnet.co.uk]
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/20/0511214/copyright-isnt-working-says-eu-technology-chief-neelie-kroes [slashdot.org]
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The only two paragraphs about copyright/patent/trademark law are:
“I’m also very interested in industrial rights, like, patent rights or design rights, trademarks. There’s an abundance of kind of side-initiatives, data exclusivity in the pharmaceutical industry being a good example, that also reinforce the ‘non-ma
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She does seem to have a fair amount of knowledge there, as you'd expect. I read up on the Pirate Party (WIkipedia, their site, etc.) and I can tell what they stand for in terms of copyright, piracy, etc.
So, next question for me is:
How's she going to handle the current economic crisis in Europe? Because that's a much bigger impact and far more urgent.
What about the terrorism crises going on that threaten various countries in the EU? What's her/the Pirate Party's position?
Energy platform? What do they think a
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On your first 6 questions, it's likely that she'll sit with the existing green block, and leverage voting with them on these issues to gain backing on key Pirate issues. On corruption, the Pirate Party movement was founded on 4 key issues, one of which is Government openness, so you can expect a her to expose a lot of what goes on behind closed doors at the EU.
I understand why you think we're all about copyright, as that's the issue where we get the vast majority of our press coverage, but we also have a lo
be positive! (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it is much more important, that if she starts with 24 and is good and clever enough could be someone - if she grows up - who has a great impact on the european politic, just like the other young politicians, MEPs, MPs, PP members and so on - which I would really welcome
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I think it is much more important, that if she starts with 24 and is good and clever enough could be someone - if she grows up - who has a great impact on the european politic, just like the other young politicians, MEPs, MPs, PP members and so on - which I would really welcome
Politicians are like diapers, you need to change them often and for the same reason.
Black and white ideals... (Score:2)
I hate how some issues are so polarising.
"Piracy" shouldn't be a platform. Nor should allowing theft of intellectual rights.
That said- current laws are ludicrous and publishers have more rights than they should.
The current system of copyright, patents, etc is completely broken and needs losening up a lot. We should resist swinging the complete opposite direction though.
Like many issues- the best course is somewhere between what we have now and what the extremists on the other side want.
Yes, if I buy some
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It's not extreme at all:
There's simply no concept of "intellectual rights". It is something that was made up and the carved into your head.
Since they don't exist, by definition they can't be 'stolen'.
Disclainmer: 20 yo and active member of the Brazilian Pirate Party.
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There's simply no concept of "intellectual rights". It is something that was made up and the carved into your head.
All "rights" are made up and agreed by people.
Re:Black and white ideals... (Score:4, Insightful)
I can only see one line of the above response and cannot open it to reply due to Slashdots ongoing UI bugs.
However- I would like to point out that saying:
"there is no intellectual property" IS an extreme position. That IS the extreme.
You may believe that to be true and that may be your stance-- but that is an extreme position- doesn't mean it is wrong- but it is extreme. You can't go any more unregulated than that in terms of IP.
Personally- I think taking a non-extreme approach is best to foster creativity and consumer happiness. Yes, people should be rewarded for their creativity and have it somewhat protected.
I shouldn't be allowed to profit off someone elses hardwork. However- I do recognise that the current laws need relaxing considerably.
As for intellectual property being an "artificial" law.
Yes, exactly- just as all laws and rules are. Just as child abuse is "artificially" illegal- or laws of consent, doesn't mean it should be made legal. Most people would argue they shouldn't- and I agree.
Physical property is equally "artificial" too. Caveman one crafts an arrowhead. Caveman two comes along- clubs caveman one on the head and steals arrowhead.
Without government artificially coming along and saying theft is wrong- it isn't. Our entire legal system is "artificial". Most people would not want to live in anarchy though. I want it to be wrong to club someone over the head to steal their property- I wouldn't want to live in a world where theft of physical property were legal.
I also wouldn't want to live in a world where anyone could profit from my intellectual hardwork and I not get paid anything.
There needs to be a balance. Currently it is too far in favour of the creator than the consumer- but we shouldn't abolish IP outright.
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The current system of copyright, patents, etc is completely broken and needs losening up a lot.
Well done, I think that's thei first time I've seen the loose/lose confusion go the other way.
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She's pretty hot, you're far too picky!
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Offtopic? Come on, this is a tasteful comment about a (geek) woman's appearance on a site full of mostly straight (geek) dudes. It is very much on-topic.
Male sexuality is not wrong, being a gross douchebag is wrong. They're not the same thing. Everytime you go PC-overkill a racist conservative smiles and chuckles, happy that you're proving him right and hastening the arrival of the day that he can openly express his racism once more!
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Yeah- and growing up I always wondered why in American films "Members of Parliament" wore military uniforms with an "MP" on their sleave.
MEP is Member of European Parliament.
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MP is member of parliment (reffering to a national parliment). MEP is member of european parliment.