Follow Up of the Day: EU ACTA Chief Resigns

Follow Up of the Day: Just a day after the European Union and 22 of its member countries signed the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the member of European Parliament in charge of the treaty has resigned from the role.

In an explanation posted on his official blog, Kader Arif called ACTA a “masquerade,” and denounced the lack of transparency that led to its signing.

He wrote:

I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.

As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.

Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.

This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.

Although Arif resigned after the European Parliament’s official report on ACTA was released, the battle over the treaty is ongoing. It doesn’t take effect until the European Parliament and the national parliaments of EU member states actually vote on it, which is scheduled to happen in June.

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