Letter by FFII to the Euro Ombudsman
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Dear Sir,
We believe that the European Commission's Directorate General for the Internal Market and the current Irish Presidency of the European Union have systematically and wilfully misinformed the public about their legislative proposals, partially in breach of written legal rules, in order to discard the work of the European Parliament and the EU's consultative institutions involved in the process, and to push for regulations that damage freedom and prosperity of most citizens of Europe while favoring the interests of powerful circles who enjoy privileged access to the people in charge at the Commission and the Council.
We are in particular referring to the decision taken last Tuesday, 2004-05-18, by the Competitivity Council on Software Patents (misleadingly labeled "directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions"). This has led to a decision whose validity is in question, because the Presidency failed to observe its duty of neutrality in conducting the negotiations. It is clear that some countries were bullied or pushed to the side, and that others were misrepresented by their representatives in the Council. It has however to be feared that the Irish Presidency and the Commission will further pressure the national governments to acquiesce to this questionable decision, which does not represent the will of the national governments.
We would therefore like to ask:
- Is the Euro-Ombudsman generally willing to investigate our allegations of misconduct of DG Internal Market and the Irish Council Presidency?
- Is it possible to conduct parts of this investigation urgently, so that it can help to counter the ongoing abuses that can be expected to happen at this moment?
Attached you find a rough outline of our submission and would be willing to deliver some parts of it within a few days, the rest within a few weeks, and we beg you to help us in our common concern of fighting the abuse of administrative power and establishing trust in the institutions of the European Union.
Yours sincerely
