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Our leaders often get lost in generalities with regard to the Europe 2020 growth strategy, single market reform (SMA) and other EU issues. While we are waiting for national governments in the EU member states and the EU institutions to start discussing more openly and in more detail, we can discuss the role of the official players and look for better alternatives. EU institutions In my view, the negotiations between the EU member states in the Council remain opaque, despite so called public deliberations and debates, published official proposals and decisions, improved presentation by the Council press service etc. Most lobbying efforts also take place outside the limelight. The European Parliament is sometimes unjustly derided.
Can EU media and civil society break the omertà? - Grahnlaw Suomi Finland
Closing summaries of cases The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market's language policy regarding its website and its correspondence with citizens (Added on: 30 Apr 2012) Access to documents relating to an infringement procedure concerning environmental issues (Added on: 23 Apr 2012) 23 Apr 2012 Ombudsman event: European citizens can tweet their live questions to Barroso, Schulz, Thorning-Schmidt 17 Apr 2012 Ombudsman investigates whether the Commission should do more to combat increased bee mortality
European Ombudsman»Press
Google Privacy Policy Could Violate EU Law | TechWeekEurope UK
The French data regulator has suggested that Google ’s imminent new privacy policy could violate the European Union’s data protection laws. Commission Nationale de L’informatique et Des Libertes (CNIL) has expressed “deep concerns” about the policy and its adherence to the European Data Protection Directive. CNIL was asked to investigate the policy by the Article 29 Working Party , an advisory body which includes representatives from all EU data protection authorities, earlier this month. The body asked Google to suspend plans to implement the policy so that it could investigate whether it offered sufficient protection for personal data. “The Article 29 Working Party invited the CNIL to take the lead in the analysis of Google’s new privacy policy,” said CNIL.
The EP will tomorrow receive a petition signed by more than 2.4 million internet users against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). They fear that the agreement will pose a threat to a free and open internet. The EP's petitions committee will look at the petition before deciding what action to take.
Parliament to receive 2.4 million petition signatures against ACTA
The discussion began in the entries Transparency during the eurozone crises and Euro crises: European Council eviscerated? and Eurozone governance: Fundamental flaws but better presentation . This is the fourth instalment based on my speech at the 22 February 2012 Attac seminar about the implications of the new fiscal discipline in the EU. This text contains some modifications, updates and documentary references, which complement the oral presentation. In addition to EU citizenship and the principle of equality of citizens (Article 9 TEU), Article 10(1) of the Treaty on European Union tells us:
Euro crises exposed and added to EU lack of legitimacy and democracy
online | Tausende demonstrieren erneut gegen ACTA
Bundesweit hatten Veranstalter in 50 deutschen Städten zu Protesten gegen ACTA aufgerufen. Bild: Hagen Sankowski (CC-BY-SA 3.0) In rund 130 Städten in Deutschland und Europa sind am Samstag wieder Tausende Menschen gegen das Urheberrechts-Abkommen ACTA ( Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement ) auf die Straße gegangen. In München versammelten sich nach Polizeiangaben rund 2000 Gegner des Abkommens zum internationalen Urheberrecht und zogen anschließend durch die Stadt. Auf Plakaten waren Protestsprüche wie "Mit ACTA ist alles doof" und ähnliche zu lesen. In Nürnberg, Hamburg und Mannheim waren es 1500 Demonstranten, in Dortmund sollen es 1200 gewesen sein.
Bulgaria to suspend ACTA ratification - minister - Bulgaria - The Sofia Echo
Bulgaria will suspend the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement international treaty (ACTA), Economy Minister Traicho Traikov told a news conference in Sofia on February 14. ACTA's remit to is to strengthen international co-operation to fight counterfeit goods and it equates digital copyrights infringement to the counterfeiting of physical goods, which, online freedom groups say, opens the door to strict policing of online content. Among its strongest supporters are companies from the entertainment industry and the pharmaceutical sector, since ACTA would also tighten controls on generic drugs trade, but is opposed by technology companies, who say that the treaty will stifle innovation, and civil society groups. Traikov said that Bulgaria's Cabinet will vote on a motion to suspend ACTA ratification at its next meeting on February 15.
On Twitter #ACTA reflects - in almost real time - news and opinion about the anti-counterfeiting (and much more) trade agreement. Even if some of the exhortations and slogans are over the top, there are reality based news items and knowledge based critical analyses among the tweets. Access.org
Follow ACTA networks with news and links
Civil society beating back ACTA assault
By now, the governments of Poland , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Latvia and Germany have put ACTA ratification or signing on hold, following the protests. Thanks to @jonworth I noticed that the Party of European Socialists (PES) - @PES_PSE on Twitter - came out against ACTA in a press release and a declaration . Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the second largest political group in the European Parliament, the Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (S&D) - @TheProgressives on Twitter – made a statement envisioning possible rejection of the treaty. Citizens mobilise The Twitter discussion under #ACTA is intense ahead of the biggest action day against the anti-piracy agreement tomorrow, Saturday 11 February 2012, with more than 200 new demonstrations taking place. The total numbers participating remain to be seen, but the defence of Internet freedom unites Europeans across borders.ACTA demonstrations and EU online music licensing
All around Europe demonstrations are planned, especially for Saturday, 11 February 2012, against the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement ACTA . As never before, Europeans keep tweeting #ACTA calls to sign the @Avaaz online petition for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject the anti-piracy treaty. But they also tweet to exchange information about the deal among governments to attain ”state-of-the-art provisions on the enforcement of IPR, including provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures, robust cooperation mechanisms” etc. Yesterday I looked at why forcing ACTA down the throats of actively resisting EU citizens wasn't such a great idea in the wider scheme of things, and I also presented the bare bones of the EU Commission's agenda on intellectual property rights (IPR), as recorded in the Commission Work Programme (CWP) 2012.
It is not only a question about what the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement ACTA contains or not, because it is a part of an intellectual property enforcement agenda driven by the European Commission. Long before popular discontent became the massive confrontation we now see, wiser people than I warned the EU institutions of heading in the wrong direction and of advancing with undue secrecy. Some of them are mentioned in the blog posts I wrote on Grahnlaw about two years ago, and which paint a background picture for the IPR agenda today: Trade commissioner Karel De Gucht is supported by the commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship [no kidding] Viviane Reding.
ACTA and EU IPR enforcement agenda
Today, La Quadrature du Net sent a letter to the Members of the Development committee of the European Parliament. All citizens should also call on the committee to carefully consider the many serious issues raised by ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement aimed at establishing extremist standards in copyright, patent and trademarks worldwide. The “Development” committee (DEVE) of the EU Parliament is starting its work on ACTA by debating its draft opinion report 2 on ACTA , presented by its rapporteur Jan Zahradil 3 , a conservative, euro-skeptic representative from the Czech Republic.
ACTA: Letter to the EU Parliament Development Committee | La Quadrature du Net
BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality
The previous blog post referred to the scope and structure of the transparency guidelines approved for publication by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC): BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality: Best practices and recommended approaches BoR (11) 67 (December 2011; 69 pages) Chapter II promised to deal with requirements for a net neutrality transparency policy and states, as a general principle, that the end users’ perspective is paramount. The guidelines discuss how to best adapt a transparency policy to net neutrality-related issues, in particular by taking into account different types of end users and usages. A fully effective transparency policy (which can be composed of various approaches and measures) should aim at satisfying all of the following characteristics:After the brief presentation of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), we looked at the ongoing public consultation on the draft BEREC medium term strategy outlook . The conclusions of the BEREC Board of Regulators meeting in Bucharest (Romania) 8-9 December 2011 deal with the Work Programme for next year in point 7 (page 3). The conclusions after some editing: The 2012 BEREC Chair (RTR) presented the results from the public consultation on the BEREC WP for 2012, held in the period 6 October - 4 November 2011, the revised draft WP and a proposal for operationalisation of the BEREC WP 2012, incl. the set-up of EWGs. After the public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report on the public consultation BoR (11) 61 (9 December 2011; 15 pages). The fifteen contributions are available also on the BEREC page for public consultations .