Acta debate: Socialists to vote against

The Socialist Group in the European Parliament (EP), the second political force in the Brussels chamber, has declared it will be voting against the contro­versial Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (Acta).

Acta raises more fears than hopes

The group ignored calls by the European Commission last week for the European Parliament to wait for the legal opinion of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) before making up its mind.

Addressing a seminar on the issue late last week in Brussels, the dossier’s rapporteur, Socialist MEP David Martin, announced he would recommend that Parliament votes against the controversial trade agreement because it does not provide enough guarantees for citizens.

“This conference has confirmed my suspicion that Acta raises more fears than hopes. What it delivers in terms of important intellectual property rights is diminished by potential threats to civil liberties and internet freedom,” he said.

“When the European Parliament rejects Acta, the Commission must work to find other ways to defend European intellectual property in the global marketplace.”

The rapporteur’s decision was endorsed by the leader of the Socialist Group in the EP, Hannes Swoboda, who announced that he would be calling on all MEPs who form part of the Socialist group to reject Acta.

“It will be important to find a way to solve outstanding problems through a transparent process and in a way whereby freedoms of internet users will not be further restricted,” he said.

Both the Socialist and the Green groups have been harshly criticising the Acta agreement although their votes alone will not be enough to reject a future parliamentary vote to be taken before the summer recess.

EP sources say the future of Acta at the EP now all depends on the positions to be taken by the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Liberals, the first and third largest groups in the EP.

“If any one of these groups takes an official position against Acta, then the Treaty is dead,” an EP official told The Times.

The two groups have not yet announced their position.

Earlier this week, the European Commission, which has already initialled the agreement together with 22 EU member states including Malta, warned MEPs to wait for the legal opinion of the European court before deciding on ratification.

However, both the Socialist and Green Groups ignored this appeal and said they wanted to proceed with the debate on their own steam and come to a conclusion before summer.

The ECJ is expected to take at least 16 months to make its decision.