Today, the European Parliament’s last advisory committee had its say on ACTA – the Development Committee, overseeing third world development and world health issues. It joined its previous committees in recommending that the European Parliament rejects ACTA.
This was the fourth and last of the advisory committees that had a say in ACTA’s adoption. It turned the (horrible) draft around completely, and recommends the European Parliament to reject ACTA by a crushing vote of 19-1. The Development Committe, DEVE, thus joins the previous three advisory committees of ITRE (Industry, Research, Energy), JURI (Legal Affairs), and LIBE (Civil Liberties) in recommending rejection. To see all of these areas of responsibility recommend a rejection of the controversial treaty will be a hard political nut to crack for the treaty’s proponents.
(UPDATE: The vote count initially said 19-3. This was later corrected to 19-1, with 3 abstentions.)
The next thing that happens is that the committee that champions the issue of ACTA within the European Parliament, the International Trade committee (INTA), will summarize these opinions. It will then mix in its own, and give a final recommendation to the European Parliament.
INTA votes on its recommendation on June 20. The European Parliament votes some time in the July 2-5 session.
We’re winning, but only because we’re fighting. Just because we have a 4-0 lead, that doesn’t mean that this game is over until the fat lady sings along with the vote on the floor of the European Parliament.
See also ACTA-bloggen (in Swedish).
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Rick,
Two of the MEPs for my region of the UK sit on INTA, presumably it would make sense to email & mail them urging the rejection of ACTA. Since you understand the language of Strasbourg are you going to post a draft for those of us willing to send. I can do this but would likely be more of a rant along the lines of failing to understand why Europeans should protect the jobs of American middle men
Regards
Dear Ed,
I promise I’ll have a sample letter ready in plenty of time for INTA as well. We’re on a winning streak, for once in a very rare fucking while, and I’m certainly not going to decrease the pressure any.
However, I want to get the impressions from the June 9 rallies before I write anything.
Cheers & activist love,
Rick
I’ll promise i’ll take some pictures about the event here in Lisbon next saturday, but i’m not going to be the only one doing it, that’s for sure. Anyway, i’ll try to help with what i can and you just have to let me know where and how to send them to you.
Awesome news! Is more detailed voting info available anywhere?
I haven’t seen any yet, I expect the formal protocol needs to head through all the red tape in Brussels before we see any (if that protocol even lists vote counts).
If you have a bit of patience, you should be able to see the whole meeting as it was recorded and check the votes yourself. Just search for “committee DEVE european parliament video”, and you should find the June 4 session. (If not, it should come online shortly.)
Cheers,
Rick
I think it’s far from over, and I am not sure that we are on the winning street,
all the legions of parasitic lobbiest scum doing overtime 24/7 in lying, deceiving,
bribing, scheming and plotting, to fuck us all, and all the lobby whores on the other
side, all these makes me angry and sick.
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[…] Rick Falikvinge’. Development Committee in European Parliament Also Rejects ACTA. […]
This is great news. Although, as Rick said, this isn’t over yet.
ACTA has been pushed by several national governments and is being backed by hordes of lobbyists working 24/7 in order to “enlighten” recalcitrant MEP’s about the “disasters” in wait should ACTA fail. While we are mailing people, the MEP’s (and commission members) are being worked by impeccably dressed men and women all toting volumes of arguments as to why ACTA is a good and necessary thing.
Arguments which, like the Gallo report, rely on falsehoods. And which are only revealed as such when facts are known. Facts which said lobbyists are quick to dismiss as “hyperbole” (which it isn’t) and “theoretical” (which it also isn’t).
I’d expect every type of ammunition to be hastily excavated from the bottom drawer now. From terrorism and child pornography to the euro-crisis and trade deficits I’m VERY sure that we will over the next month see a barrage of persuasion attempts flooding Brussels, coming from the ACTA proponents.
Also…from what we can tell of previous attempts, just permakilling ACTA will not kill the rancid contents of that document. I am pretty sure that as soon as the ACTA proponents realize ACTA may not pass, they will start drafting another treaty containing an identical message. Or, more likely, try to implement the measures contained in ACTA piecemeal as part of an otherwise actually relevant treaty.
We will have to be on the barricades for a long time, i think. For the stakeholders funding this endeavor, the return of investment of the ACTA propositions are vast. Enough to make sustained lobbying at the cost of millions per year a very modest investment. Given that, we can expect said efforts to continue for as long as there are people in parliament amenable to persuasion.
What we are fighting here is a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies never quit. They will keep grinding whatever issue they have for the next twenty years if they can see any chance at all at suceeding at any time during those years.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It’s an old saying but remains true to this day.
[…] positions have been locked for some time; nothing is expected to change today. The five committees who have recommended a rejection basically take turns condemning it as a piece of shit from all kinds of […]
[…] controversial plutilateral treaty ACTA is on the rocks, about to sink. One more committee, INTA, will vote on it, then it goes to the European Parliament to be voted upon. Even though […]