EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht just stated that he will ignore what the democratic elected parliament vote on the ACTA treaty,
If you decide for a negative vote before the European Court rules, let me tell you that the Commission will nonetheless continue to pursue the current procedure before the Court, as we are entitled to do. A negative vote will not stop the proceedings before the Court of Justice
It seems that Karel need to be reminded who put him in office and who pays his salary, I just sent this to him and I suggest you send something similar:
His email address is:
—
Dear Karel,
I understand that you are very keen on pushing through the ACTA
treaty, even if the parliament says no. It seems that you are
really passionate about the copy right laws and infringements upon
them and I appreciate all the work you have put into the treaty.
I just want to remind you that the parliament is the voice of the
citizens of EU and not all of us share your undisputable conviction of
the democratic value of the ACTA treaty in its current form. We do, after all, live in
a democracy and as such you are employed at your current position at
the discretion of us, the people.
Not listening to the parliament is an act of dictatorship and not
in the spirit of democracy so I would ask you to reconsider.
Thanks for your service to us, the citizens of EU.
–
Patrik Löwendahl, Stockholm, Sweden
#1 by ed on June 26, 2012 - 15:14
There’s really no reason to put up an surveillance state to uphold copyright.
#2 by Andy Pieniazek on June 26, 2012 - 17:28
n November 2008, while De Gucht was a minister in the federal government, he was accused of insider trading in the case of the near-bankruptcy and subsequent nationalization and sale of Fortis Bank.[2] On 3 October 2008, his wife, Mireille Schreurs, and brother-in-law sold their shares in Fortis Bank after a governmental crisis meeting to deal with the precarious financial situation of the bank, hours before the public announcement that the Dutch arm of the bank would be nationalized and the partly nationalized Belgian and Luxembourg branches sold to BNP Paribas.[3] An anonymous complaint was received by the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission alleging De Gucht’s wife sold €500,000 worth of Fortis shares.[4] De Gucht acknowledges that his wife and brother-in-law sold their mother’s shares in Fortis Bank on the date in question for a smaller amount than alleged, but they deny that any insider trading was involved. He also points out that he personally lost €85,000 as a result of the nationalization and sale, and that his son, Jean-Jacques De Gucht, and mother kept their shares in the failing bank.[5] The Ghent public prosecutor ultimately decided not to pursue an investigation in the matter stating “there is nothing to indicate that Mr De Gucht encouraged his wife, brother-in-law or any third party to sell their Fortis shares quickly.”[6] In 2009, De Gucht denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promoted AIDS. He describing the remarks as “unacceptable” and added that he could “not understand how an intelligent person can say something like that.”[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_De_Gucht
#3 by NS on July 5, 2012 - 09:13
The dude is probably corrupt.
He is currently being investigated by the Belgium court because of tax fraude.
Also, ACTA is created as a Trade Law, so it would evade the democratic process. If i was a multinational company, i’d know who i’d buy off for getting it through.
Look at the past and you’ll see that Karel De Gucht is a heavy promotor of ACTA, even lying to fellow politicians (sending letters to them) and saying that everything said on the internet are a bunch of lies (so he could hide the secret), all because of he wants to get ACTA through (and probably get a big payday).
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6dafb222-3b9f-11e1-a09a-00144feabdc0.html
He’s actually using all of his power to influence the court verdict (and using bank secrecy in his defence).