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back to article MEPs try again to force ACTA transparency

The European Parliament has repeated its call for greater transparency in negotiations over an international intellectual property agreement. A majority of MEPs has signed a declaration demanding the publication of negotiation documents. The European Commission began negotiating the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) on …

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  1. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    Psssst! Want to see what this ACTA secrecy is about?

    Have a look at: < http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4829/125/ >, then contact your MP.

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    1. Goat Jam
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Oh Yeah

      I infer from that linked article that the total lack of any objections from that censorship loving, luddite paradise in Australia means my elected representatives are just rubber stamping without question everything that their buddies in Washington tell them to.

      Business as usual it is then.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmm

    Anyone else finding that Europe seems to be much better at representing our interests than our own government?

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    1. Steve Brammer
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      yes and no

      I agree that the European Parliament seems to be very good at representing out interests. I'm more worried about the European Commission which appears to be unelected, accountable to no one and can just tell the European Parliament to get lost when ever it likes. Can someone explain to me what the European Commission is for?

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      1. Dethstar
        Reply Icon
        Welcome

        Unelected but much more effective.

        For all that they are unelected (much like the UK house of Lords) these guys do a better job of representing the interests of the average person than politicians who have been bought and sold several times over by the media companies driving the ACTA. Being unelected gives a certain freedom to do what is right and make common sense decisions rather than dealing in short term political sound bites like most European politicians.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    What's the EC Commission for?

    It for doing things that a democratic process would never allow.

    Without it the EU would cease to function, because Europe isn't a country and it's "nationals" don't have an affinity for one-another. In fact we've pretty much never stopped fighting each other except during the cold war when the iron hand of autocracy and paranoia kept things in check.

    The EU commission has seen what works and realised what it has to do to keep things "moving forward" to "ever closer union."

    Isn't pragmatism great?

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    2nd hand

    As the child of one European Commission worker and one European Council worker I can tell you that, in a nutshell the ECom is, at the top levels, a bunch of Sir Humphrey Applebeys who view the European Parliament as a hindrance to good governance...

    ...Like most civil services really.

    However it must be said that the lower level ranks are, for the most part, filled with hard-working people who just try to get the job done.

    Some of the stories I have head about shenanigans in both EC's have seriously dented my faith in the EU

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