2004-05-12 Slovenian Opposition against Council Proposal frustrated by Germany
From Slovenia we received the following report:
- Our diplomats actually got the new officialy coordinated position of slovenia - to support LU and DE amendments, but unfortunately... DE has lifted all reservations on May 5th, before our support for it was declared, so it was impossible to support it afterwards. Thing is now a A item, so it will not be discussed between ministers, only voted.
This corresponds with unenlightened reactions from the responsible officials in the German ministry of justice in conversations with a swelling flood of letters. However, on the Berlin action day government representatives again promised to oppose the Council position.
On 2004-05-12 the slovenian Ministry of information society has issued a statement that it officially stated support for german (ex)opinion.
But the message is so carefully worded and vague, that it is possible to nterpret it in two different ways:
- that Slovenia has officially stated its view in EU decision making process
- that the ministry has officially stated its view inside the internal Slovenian coordination process
This may have been done intentionally in order to mislead the most of the press.
In Slovenia, as elsewhere, the Council decisions are handled by the patent office (i.e. the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office). While the information society ministry has publicly stated opposition to software patents, it may not be willing to risk serious conflicts with SIPO or, as an EU newcomer, with the perceived "compromise position" of the other Council members.
