Europarliament wants in on ACTA – or else…

The European Parliament has stated in clear terms that it wants to be involved in the further negotiations on the anti counterfeiting and piracy agreement ACTA. Otherwise, the Parliament feels forced to send the years long negotiations to the trash with a veto.

This is the gist of a written declaration that the EP adopted and presented to the European Commission and the other negotiators at the ACTA talks. The Europarliament wants clarity about her own position in this discussion and will otherwise use the intransparant character of the negotiations as a reason to vote against the results.

Mostly, this looks like a battle for legitimacy between the Europarliament and the European Commission. The Parliament feels overshadowed by the Commission and uses this opportunity to flash its teeth.

The Dutch labour fraction in Brussels and Strasbourg tells nu.nl that the motion is a sign that the Europarliament takes to heart the worries of Europeans. The Parliament  wants in on talks like these and not just be able to say yes or no. “Acta may not harm the liberty of Europeans,” says Euro MP Emine Bozkurt.

MP Marietje Schaake of the Dutch social liberal party agrees: “The process of the ACTA negotiations leads to people mistrusting the government, as they had no open access to information. This kind of back room politics is totally outdated and unacceptable because all European citizens have to deal with the results of this treaty.”

The timing of the declaration is no complete coincidence: next week, a new round of ACTA talks starts. This round is meant to yield a draft text for the treaty.