Black day for european democracy
The “undead” software patents proposal was today adopted by the Coucil, on a false pretense. First Ireland, now Luxemburg; as the Joker said: “where does he get those wonderful toys?”
From the FFII press release:
7 March 2005 — The Council Presidency today declared the software agreement of 18 May 2004 to have been adopted, in violation of the procedural rules and in spite of the evident lack of a qualified majority of member states and the requests of several states to reopen negotiations.
- Report
- Cyprus submitted a written declaration at the start of the Council session
- Poland, Denmark, Portugal and others (not specified) asked for a B item (discussion point)
- The Luxembourg presidency claimed this was not possible due to procedural reasons, and that this would have undermined the whole process -> it would stay on the list of A-items
- Luxembourg then gave a long statement regarding how the EP still gets a chance in second reading, the importance of avoiding legal uncertainty etc.
- Denmark said it was disappointed about this, but accepted and submitted a written declaration
- Later on, the list of A items was accepted by the Council
- Conclusion
- Luxembourg negated the Council’s own Rules of Procedure, which state that a B-item (which is at the same time a request to remove an A item) can only be rejected by the a majority of the Council, and not just by the Presidency. (art 3.8)
- The objecting countries seem to have forgotten to request removal of the A-item from the agenda. Rules 3.1 + 3.7 would have given any single country the right to have the A-item removed, because the Luxemburg presidency had failed to insert it more than 14 days earlier. This is how Poland has removed A-items from the Agricultural & Fishery Council twice in the past.
- This is a very sad day for democracy, and casts a very dark shadow over the European Constitution, which will give the Council even more power.
Jonas Maebe of the FFII comments:
Why on Earth do we still have the rules that state that national parliaments should be taken into account by the Council?
Things would be much easier if we scrapped all those rules and simply wrote down “The Council presidency and Commission can do together whatever they like”
It ain´t over till the fat lady sings, but this is a resounding defeat of european democratic principles and procedures that will certainly set a precedent for future depredations. As Benjamin Franklin once said:
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!
It appears that the lamb in question must be armed with a well-rounded knowledge of european legislation and current events, and in the company of other lambs in a similar position, if it means to avoid being served for lunch. This anonymous writer on ZDnet UK has the right idea, too:
But the battle’s not over quite yet. Those who do fight for us need our active support, now more than ever. We must try, Europe-wide, to get the majority vote in Parliament that can overturn the directive.[..] Make that effort now, before software patents become enmeshed in national law and then in untouchable international treaties.
If all that fails it may be time to ask ourselves what, as IT workers, a revolution would look like.
