‘No clarity...No Acta’ – Busuttil

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil yesterday criticised the European Commission for its failure to communicate on the recent Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (Acta).

He warned that the Parliament’s civil liberties committee would find it hard to approve it unless the EU executive addressed people’s concerns over internet freedom.

Taking part in the first debate on the controversial dossier at the EP’s International Trade Committee yesterday in Brussels, Dr Busuttil said that while Acta’s intentions in the fight against piracy might be good, the Commission had to step up its efforts to explain and address the justified concerns.

“Unless the Commission addresses its public communications strategy to explain this agreement thoroughly, then Acta is as good as dead,” Dr Busuttil, who leads the EPP group in the Civil Liberties Committee, warned.

“The public debate on Acta has been poisoned by sheer misinformation, by undue politicisation and by the failure of the European Commission to communicate the agreement properly.”

Dr Busuttil’s criticism echoed similar interventions by other MEPs who reacted negatively to the Commission’s handling of the trade agreement.

The EP’s rapporteur on the dossier, Socialist MEP David Martin, proposed that the EP should start drawing up a set of questions to be sent to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for its opinion on the legality of the agreement.

“We have critical interest in defending EU intellectual property and we need to act in this regard”, Mr Martin said.

“It is not the intentions of Acta that raise concerns but it’s possible unintentional consequences. Acta lacks detail and the main concern is how the text might be read,” he said.

Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who gave a presentation of the main elements of Acta, reiterated that the Commission would be awaiting the legal opinion of the ECJ before moving forward on this issue.

The EP, member states including Malta, need to ratify this agreement before it comes into force.