Brussels, 23/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament on Thursday 23 June, Sandrine Bélier (France) welcomed the stance taken, on 21 June, by the second permanent committee of the Mexican senate opposed to its government's ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), negotiated between 2007 and 2010 outside the WTO by 37 countries - Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States and the 27 member states of the EU (see EUROPE 10257). “The argument of the second committee of the Mexican senate highlights the opacity of the negotiations and the dangers that ACTA poses to rights to creativity, access to knowledge and information through the internet”, Bélier said, hailing the convergence of positions on the danger of criminalising internet users for exchanging fragments of books or songs. She said it was a “political victory” to be added to the report by Franck La Rue, UN rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, which said that governments should not make technical intermediaries responsible for the activities of the users of their services. “The fight against ACTA looks as if it will be a long one, but the second committee of the Mexican senate, in addition to international civil society and most MEPs, has brought us a further step forward towards a free internet that meets the economic, cultural and social challenges of our century”, Bélier said in a press release. (E.H./transl.rt)