European Parliament

On 28th February, the European Parliament received a petition containing almost 2.4 million signatures against the implementation of ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement. The petition called for MEPS to “stand for free and open Internet and reject the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)”.

What is ACTA? ACTA is an international treaty which aims to create an international standard for the protection of intellectual property rights. As the name suggests, it tackles trade in counterfeit goods, but also features provisions for clamping down on copyright breaches on the Internet. The European Union and 22 of its Member States signed the treaty in January 2012, and it has also been signed by the US, Canada, Australia and Japan amongst others. However, no country has yet ratified the treaty, which needs to be ratified by six signatories before it can come into force.

Why is it so controversial? The EU claims that ACTA will benefit its citizens, as it will help to protect European innovation and ideas. But as the petition clearly demonstrates, there are many who do not share this view. Kader Arif, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for ACTA, resigned in January after the EU signed the treaty, claiming “I will not take part in this masquerade”. Opponents feel that it is undemocratic and that it breaches fundamental human rights such as privacy and data protection, and free speech. The website Stop Acta describes the treaty as “a lethal weapon against your rights” and claims that, in making ISPs responsible for what their users put online, it will result in censorship and control over what is published on the net.

There is also fear that ACTA will be detrimental to those in Third World countries, particularly in relation to medication. Due to new rules concerning patents, ACTA would potentially criminalise generic drugs, which are described by the WHO as a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product, that is manufactured without a licence from the innovator company and marketed after the expiry date of the patent or other exclusive rights. As they are considerably cheaper than their branded equivalents, generic drugs are often used in Third World countries to tackle diseases such as AIDS. As Kader Arif explained “This [ACTA] means the patent holder can stop the shipping of the drugs to a developing country, seize the cargo and even order the destruction of the drugs as a preventive measure”. This would be devastating for developing countries.

MEPs are to discuss the pros and cons of ACTA in the following weeks. Parliament cannot amend ACTA, it can only approve or reject it. In the case of the latter, the agreement would fail. In the case of the former, more protests would doubtless follow on European streets.

ImageSource: European Parliament Audiovisual Service

Move over MEPs: the star of the hemicycle this month was undoubtably 18-month-old Vittoria, daughter of Italian MEP Licia Ronzulli, who accompanied her mother to a parliamentary session in Strasbourg on 15th February. Good as gold, she sat quietly throughout the debates, playing happily with Mum’s translation headphones and Blackberry.

However, this isn’t the first time that Ronzulli has brought her daughter to Parliament. Vittoria first attended in 2010 when she was a tiny baby, wrapped up in a sling against her mother’s chest. On that occasion she slept through proceedings (well, she was only 7 weeks old), but this time she seemed much more interested, even raising her hand to vote when her mother did. As her father, Renato Cerioli, is also a politician, maybe a career in politics awaits.

Vittoria’s first visit to the hemicycle Source: European Parliament Audiovisual Service

The pictures are undeniably cute, but the sight of Ronzulli juggling Vittoria on her hip as she addresses the Parliament, the epitome of a working mother, will doubtless have struck a chord with many parents who struggle to balance their professional lives with caring for their children. The European Parliament has a very relaxed attitude to MEPs bringing their children with them to work, but many others will not be so lucky.

Main image source: European Parliament Audiovisual Service