[p2p-research] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Amendment 138: The Parliament betrayed by its negotiators

Wed Oct 14 15:45:57 CEST 2009

Would appreciate if anyone can post this on Ning as well, while I'm still on
the road,

Michel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jérémie ZIMMERMANN - La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 5:52 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Amendment 138: The Parliament betrayed by its
negotiators
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net

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La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent link:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/amendment-138-the-parliament-betrayed-by-its-negotiators

Amendment 138: The Parliament betrayed by its negotiators

*** Brussels, October 14th, 2009 - Negotiations on the Telecoms Package
took a worrying turn for citizens rights and freedoms. The European
Parliament Delegation was betrayed by its negotiators, led by Catherine
Trautmann (S&D) and Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP). In total contradiction
with the mandate given by their colleagues representing the Parliament,
the negotiators unilaterally accepted to work on a proposal by the
Council of the EU that negates citizens' rights [1]. This dangerous
proposition is set to replace "amendment 138", voted twice by 88% of the
Parliament. ***

On Wednesday morning, a clear mandate was given to the negotiation team
by the Parliament delegation. A dubious legal analysis was produced by
the administrative services of the Parliament a few hours before, to
justify to abandon the original amendment 138 safeguarding citizens
rights. Thanks to an impressive mobilization of citizens across Europe,
MEPs were informed about the importance of preserving user rights at the
level set in amendment 138. Several MEPs therefore strongly opposed the
analysis of the administrative services and the delegation told the
negotiators to disregard it in the upcoming trilogue meeting.
Previously, the delegation had already decided that the negotiation
should proceed by considering all 3 texts : amendment 138, the second
reading compromise of Council and the new proposal.

Nonetheless, a few hours later during a trialogue with representatives
from the Council and the Commission, the negotiators violated their
mandate by agreeing that the fake "compromise" presented last week will
be the basis of further negotiations. By doing so, they gave up on the
idea that Internet access could only be restricted by a "prior ruling by
the judicial authority", ignoring the core principle of a provision
adopted twice by a 88% majority of the European Parliament.

"This turn-around is worryingly undermining the Parliament's powers. It
reveals a profound and lack of transparency and democratic credibility
of the European institutions. The negotiators led by Catherine Trautmann
decided to ignore the mandate they received from the Parliament
delegation and to accept a negotiation basis that reduced citizens
freedoms in comparison to the existing levels provided by the European
Convention for Human Rights.", analyzes Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of
citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

The new proposal could authorize Member States to implement exceptions
to the right to a due process in national Internet-related legislation.
Thereby, the proposal amounts to legitimizing an Orwellian surveillance
of the Net. Even in the Parliament's legal services opinion [2], which
seems custom-crafted to benefit the Council during the negotiation,
nothing justifies to accept this text as a new basis. The original
amendment 138 could if necessary be modified to fit the European Court
of Justice's case law.

"When the Parliament adopted amendment 138 on two occasions, it boldly
stated that a free access to the Internet is an integral part of
fundamental freedoms, and cannot be restricted without a judge's prior
decision. Mrs Trautmann and Mr Vidal-Quadras just helped the Council of
the EU to restrict citizens' freedoms at their will. This outrageous
maneuver could open the door to 'three strikes' policies, discrimination
of content and arbitrary filtering of the Net all over Europe.",
concludes Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for La Quadrature.

* Références *

1. See
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/telecoms-package-does-the-council-of-eu-hate-freedom
2. See http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/EP_legal_service_138_analysis,
counter-arguments are being produced and will be published in the
following days. A draft is available at
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Amendement_138_is_compatible_with_95_CE

** About la Quadrature du Net **

La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) is citizen group informing about
legislative projects menacing civil liberties as well as economic and
social development in the digital age.

La Quadrature du Net informs citizens, public authorities,
organizations, corporations.

It works with everyone to elaborate balanced alternative solutions.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, european and international
NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society
Institute and Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations :
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-net

** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room

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