Mr President, we have been joined by millions of Europeans who voiced protests against ACTA and I want to recognise this historic movement and build on it in a constructive way. Now is the time for open, collaborative European democracy.
ACTA is the symbol of closed politics, of non-transparent back-door decisions of the pre-Lisbon era, and of hampering instead of embracing digital freedom. It is time to say goodbye to ACTA but – this rejection comes with responsibilities. We need to complete the EU’s digital single market, for which we desperately need copyright reform, not the enforcement of 27 different systems. We need sector-specific approaches to counterfeiting: a bag is not a movie. Tangible goods are scarce; digital contact exists increasingly in abundance and we cannot enforce counterfeit goods the same way as we do digital content, not without violating fundamental rights or other collateral damage. Internet service providers are not music police. Let us foster more legal content instead.
Plenary speech on ACTA
03 Jul 2012
