Another key committee votes against ACTA!

This morning the MEPs in the INTA committee voted 19-12 in favour of David Martin MEP’s opinion recommending ACTA be rejected. 

Congratulations and a huge thank you to all who contacted their MEPs about this. You made a real difference! It’s a big win. 

As with previous committees, there was once again some drama involved (in the unlikely setting of a European Parliament committee room). Before the vote on MEP Martin’s opinion, amendments 1 and 2, which said the committee should recommend ACTA is supported, were withdrawn. MEPs then voted 19-12 against Syed Kamall MEP’s amendment, which would have seen the ‘plenary’ European Parliament vote delayed.

Initially the vote result was 19-13. That struck everyone as slightly odd, because it was one more vote than the number of MEPs elgiible to vote. That prolongued the tension. But the repeat vote gave us 19-12 against MEP Kamall’s amendment. (There’s more information about the amendments and what was happening this morning on our previous blog).

If you want to relive the committee session (who needs Euro 2012 highlights when you have INTA committee voting sessions on tap?) you can do so at the INTA committee’s site.  

Our attention now turns to the ‘plenary’ vote, where all the MEPs will vote, which will take place on 4th July. INTA is the lead committee, and their opinion will be important when MEPs come to make their decision. 

There is still much to do to convince MEPs in the plenary to vote against the treaty.

There have now been 5 committees that have said that the European Parliament should reject ACTA (more information on the previous 4). But what we have behind us is not just 5 useful opinions from committees. We have 5 examples of democracy in action, giving us proof that expressing your opinions to your elected representatives can have a real and demonstrable effect. 5 reasons to keep on the same path as we turn our attention to the plenary vote on 4th July.