Françoise Castex (S&D), in writing. – (FR) Whilst Parliament has been demanding access to the texts for months, the Anti­Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been negotiated in the greatest possible secrecy behind the backs of the citizens and their representatives, and that is unacceptable. The Commission itself cannot make head nor tail of it. It tells us that it has already sent us the documents and, at the same time, that it will ask the Council to publish everything: who is it trying to kid?

Beyond the issue of transparency, we wish here to remind the Commission and the Council that they will have to obtain consent from Parliament at the end of the negotiations. From the leaks that have reached us, it would appear that we have a Trojan horse: on the pretext of a wholly legitimate fight against counterfeiting, the Member States, with the French Government at the forefront, wish to vote through a text that could undermine access to medicine, freedom of expression, the neutrality of the Internet and the legal liability of its intermediaries.

The fact is, Parliament will oppose any undermining of the acquis communautaire. If the Commission and the Council do not change strategy, we shall protect the individual freedoms of our fellow citizens by rejecting ACTA, just as we rejected the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) Agreement.