Accueil Patrick BREYER

. – While we voted in favor of the own initiative report and we are in agreement with the principles of the proposal, we feel the need to point out how we understand the principle of technology neutrality. We see as crucial to assess all real technological possibilities while implementing EU policy, however, this means assessing them realistically and in their whole life cycles using common criteria, not cherry picking one aspect, for example just the relatively low emission footprint of nuclear power plants in the peak of their effectiveness, not counting in their safety, construction and waste management demands. Such technologically neutral assessment results in nuclear power, for example, being no sustainable energy source in our view.

. – We as Pirates support a common European defence, which we want to see ethical and efficient, democratic and transparent. That is why we wholeheartedly supported the Greens/EFA amendments to the European Defence Fund. They would help to meet our reservations regarding the lack of control of the European Parliament over the programme, the insufficient ethics checks that fail to guarantee true independence of the experts, the lack of transparency and excluding weapons of mass destruction from the funding. The EDF was adopted without these amendments. We will further continue our efforts to reform the EDF in this way and contribute to harmonization and democratization of the European defence.

. – We support almost all elements of the European Child Guarantee, especially the call for tackling the problems of social exclusion and discrimination and taking measures against the unbearably high risk of poverty for children in rich Europe. The promotion and guarantee of children's rights is also deeply rooted in our party program.
But we strongly believe that 'new technologies' for the detection and removal of possibly illegal material on the Internet are not the right approach. To scan all electronic communications and to try to interpret all text messages for possible child solicitation/grooming does not protect children but would result in an inacceptable number of false suspicions and would implement a censorship infrastructure that would likely be used for other purposes in the near future: on hate speech, terrorist content, copyright infringements, defamation ...
We fiercly oppose the development and use of technologies that can destroy our open democratic society. Since this otherwise welcome Resolution on the European Child Guarantee was ‚infected‘ with this 'surveillance virus', we had to reject the final text.