Brussels, 19/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - "After the agreement (...) by the European Commission on the transfer of data on passengers (of transatlantic flights) to the United States, the Ministers of the EU have approved (...) the patentability of software", storms Lista Bonino MEP Marco Cappato in a press release (see EUROPE of 18 May, p.10, and of yesterday, p.11). The MEP points out that the Parliament had absolutely opposed these two things, after "an agonising vote following months of debates". He adds: "it comes as no surprise that the Commission and Council have waited for a 'void' in the Parliament to take decisions which fly in the face of the wishes of the only directly-elected institution, in the hope of presenting the fait accompli to the new assembly in Strasbourg". While "the parliamentary cat's away, the European bureaucracies play", said the Italian Radical.
CSU MEP Joachim Wuermeling, on the other hand, welcomed the Council's decision, which he feels is "a clear step in the right direction of greater legal clarity and a reinforcement of Europe's position in technology". He feels that novice small and medium-sized enterprises in particular will benefit from the protection this will provide, and that reason won out over "scaremongers".