ACTA, Transparency and the EU: Visible to the Naked Eye

There are many ways in which transparency can ensure the presence of the critical eye needed to guard against corruption. But it can all be for nothing if no one is paying attention.

The high profile international controversy surrounding the SOPA/PIPA Acts  are a perfect example. The act was followed swiftly by the ACTA treaty that faced numerous protests across Europe (BBC, 2012). ACTA now finds itself buried in EU procedures. There it is out of sight and out of mind - not due to any particular fault with the EU's processes - but rather due to an absence of interest in Europe's politics.

The Autumn 2009 Eurobarometer survey says that only 23% of people in the UK trust the EU, with 60% of people saying that they did not understand how the EU worked. In the Autumn 2011 surveys, it was also covered that 62% of UK citizens felt under-informed about the workings of the EU.

It is worrying when an issue of international law enforcement can slip by unnoticed because an organisation is little trusted and little understood.

In the case of ACTA - an attempt to create a multinational treaty to target copyright infringement - it reached the European Parliament with the backing of 22 of the EU's member governments. But upon arrival a number of countries backed away from ratification in the face of protests and ACTA was referred to the courts (Lee, 2012). Now it is being deemed unlikely to see the light of day due to the current 'political reality' (Arthur, 2012).

This disparity between government backing and public opposition shows the real importance of democratic institutions being visible and their processes being understood. When there is a lack of visibility, it creates a democratic deficit - which tips the balance of power away from those not paying attention and towards those who make make and pass our laws.

What can be done is to ensure that this crucial part of the UK's checks and balances plays its part?

One certain distinction to make would be differentiating between disinterest and disaffection. Just because people have become disaffected with the trasformismo occurring within modern British politics, this is no reason to conclude that there is also a disinterest in being engaged with politics.

Every protest, march and sit-in of the last 24 months have been testament to this. Further they declare something to be fundamentally wrong. Either our political process is broken and has found itself rejected - and therefore needs to be updated and improved. Or, as young people grow up, not enough is done to demonstrate the importance and functions of, nor the reasons behind, our political process.

References

'ACTA: Germany delays signing anti-piracy agreement'; on the BBC; 10 February 2012.

David Lee's 'ACTA: EU court to rule on anti-piracy agreement'; on the BBC; 22 February 2012.

Charles Arthur's 'ACTA unlikely to be ratified in Europe, says Kroes'; in The Guardian; 8 May 2012.