consentire videtur. Latin proverb, meaning that a person who keeps silent is presumed to give consent.
That is the answer to the expected behaviour of several delegates to the Council meeting next Monday, where we will again see a last-minute stealthy introduction of the software patent A-item. It just keeps bouncing back on the agenda.
As I said before, if Member States Governments don't get a chance to vote for or against the proposal in Council, the logical thing to do would be to ask them elsewhere.
Now, in Germany that has happened.
Member of Parliament Dr. Krings has said in a comment about the Commission's refusal to restart the process:
"Mrs. Zypries (German Minister of Justice) needs to finally come clear about how she intends to act in Council and if she is feeling stronger obliged to the EU Commission or to the unanimous vote of the German Parliament"
(Translation from German original by me).
As far as I know, there is still no clear answer to this question.
And I understand fully that Mrs. Zypries and other of her colleagues in the same position wish to avoid that answer.
She can't very well step up to the plate and tell the German Parliament that she is not interested in following any of their unanimous resolutions.
On the other hand, if she does follow the clearly expressed will of Parliament, that would set an extremely dangerous precedent of ignoring unwritten rules governing the Council procedure. Of course I am all for setting that precedent, since the rule in question is stupid as well as unwritten, but for some strange reason many of the diplomats actually running the Council still want to stick to their Old Europe antidemocratic style. They want to give the Member State holding the Council presidency the power to push through an A-item even if everyone else is opposed at the time of the adoption. They want to vote without voting.
Hey, Council, why don't you give actually following your own written rules a try in this extraordinary case? The world won't collapse if you take a few seconds to give each delegate a chance to vote.
So, under the current weird unwritten Council rules, Mrs. Zypries is doomed either way. Whatever she does, she will strongly offend someone.
Therefore, the easiest way might seem to do nothing. Just don't answer questions like that of Dr. Krings and hope the whole problem just goes away somehow.
Unfortunately, in Council that is not an option.
If she and other Governments do nothing in Council next Monday, their votes will be counted as for finally adopting the A-item.
Even if there won't be a vote, votes will be counted, and those Member States who remain silent will be counted for the proposal.
Not answering the question is an answer as well. And that answer means "never mind what Parliament says".
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Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at March 4, 2005 12:06 PM