[Fwd: [ffii] Danish Parliament obliges Minister to renegotiate software patents in Council]

Fri Mar 4 19:01:30 CET 2005

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Goed zo!

Zullen we nu zien welke rampen er allemaal volgen op dit 'precedent', of
dat dat argument achteraf loos blijkt geweest te zijn.

Bart Meerdink

Martijn Meijering wrote:
>
> ------------------------- Oorspronkelijk bericht -------------------------
> Onderwerp: [ffii] Danish Parliament obliges Minister to renegotiate
> software patents in Council Van:       "Jonas Maebe" <jmaebe at ffii.org>
> Datum:     Vr, 4 maart, 2005 4:38 pm
> Aan:       news at ffii.org
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> PRESS RELEASE FFII -- [ Europe / economy / ICT ]
>
> ========================================================================
> Danish Parliament obliges Minister to renegotiate software patents in
> Council
> ========================================================================
>
> Copenhague, 4 March 2005 -- The Danish Minister of Economic and
> Industry Affairs Bent Bentsen has been obliged by the Danish
> Parliament EU Committee to reopen the software patents discussion in the
> EU Council of Ministers. Therefore, the directive cannot be
> adopted as an A-item (formal point) at the Competition Council meeting on
> Monday.
>
> Minister Bentsen (Conservatives) did not want to reopen discussions, but
> the minority government he is part of was overruled by a coalition
> consisting of a.o. Social Democrates and the Social Liberal Party in the
> Parliament's EU Affairs Committee. Lone Dybkjær from Det Radikale Venstre
> (Social Liberal Party) says the minister is obliged to follow this
> decision to ask to take the A-item off the agenda.
>
> Moreover, the minister should also ask to put it as a B-item at a
> subsequent Council meeting. This means that the directive will again
> appear on the Council table as a discussion point, and not just
> something which should be formally adopted. This would immediately fulfill
> the main concern which moved the European Parliament to
> request a restart of the directive to the Commission: lack of a proper
> first reading in the Council.
>
> Lone Dybkjær said "We hope Denmark will be supported by Sweden in
> this matter", referring to the earlier request to reopen discussions by
> the Swedish liberals request. Bentsen is certain to find support from his
> Polish colleague Kleiber, who said earlier today in the
> Polish Gospodarka Gazeta
>
>   "I am in constant contact with the Danish minister of
>    science. He seriously considers blocking the directive
>    on Monday."
>
>
> Arda Gerkens, a Dutch MP of the Socialistische Partij who supported this
> motion and introduced several related motions before in the Dutch
> parliament added:
>
> "I am very happy to see Denmark taking this step. Thanks to the
>   motion we adopted yesterday, the Netherlands will support this
>   move."
>
>
> Hartmut Pilch, President of FFII, concluded:
>
>   It was clearly wrong to count Denmark as 80% happy in May 2004.  So long
> as the will of national legislatures is not respected by the ministers
> who conclude "political agreements", the Council should not be able to
> count on the irreversibility of these agreements.
>
>   It is now of course still possible for a majority of Council members to
> decline the wish of Denmark and Poland and insist on their zombie
> agreement of May 2004, but that does not seem very likely.
>
>   Today is a turning point in the history of the directive, and
>   hopefully historians will also mark this day as a turning point in the
> history of Parliamentary Democracy in Europe.
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Pan-European support for new discussions in Council and EP restart
> ========================================================================
>
> - Polish minister calls for B-item support in Council
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Kleiber050304En
>
> - Dutch Parliament: if another state asks for B-item, make no objections
>   http://wiki.vrijschrift.nl/Motions050303
>
> - Munich: Mayor Ude wants government to start renegotiations in Council
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Muenchen050303En
>
> - Parti Socialiste (Belgium): EP restart is victory, still have to
>    convince the Council
>   http://www.ps.be/index.cfm?R_ID=1010&Content_ID=8982672
>
> - Maria Berger MEP: Barroso playing high-stakes poker with EP
>   http://www.spe.at/berger/3/a.html#pm19
>
> - Dr. Günter Krings (German conservatives) derides Commission for
>    restart refusal
>   http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=414
>
> - Danish Parliamentary Majority Against Council Agreement
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Adelskov050224En
>
> - Swedish Liberals call for Renegotiation (B-Item) in Council
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Selib0502En
>
> - Spanish senate unanimously against software patents
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Senado050208En
>
> - UEAPME (represents 11 million European SMEs) supports EP restart
>   http://www.eubusiness.com/press/ueapme.2005-02-08
>
> - CEA-PME (represents 500,000 European SMEs) supports EP restart
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Ceapme050201En
>
> - German minister Zypries encourages new discussions in Council
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Zypries041221En
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Extra information
> ========================================================================
>
> - Permanent link to this press release
>   http://wiki.ffii.org/Dkparl050304En
>
> - Article in Gazeta Wyborcza quoting Mr. Kleiber (Polish)
>   http://gospodarka.gazeta.pl/gospodarka/1,52981,2583315.html
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Contact
> ========================================================================
>
> Hartmut Pilch, Munich Office
> phm at ffii.org
> tel. +49 (0)89 18979927
>
> Erik Josefsson, Brussels Office
> erjos at ffii.org
> tel. +32 (0)485 83 21 26
>
> Jonas Maebe, Board Member
> jmaebe at ffii.org
> tel. +32 (0)485 36 96 45
>
>
> ========================================================================
> About the FFII -- http://www.ffii.org
> ========================================================================
>
> The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a
> non-profit association registered in several European countries, which is
> dedicated to the spread of data processing literacy. FFII supports the
> development of public information goods based on copyright, free
> competition, open standards. More than 500 members, 1,200 companies and
> 80,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public
> policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual
> property) in data processing.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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