20 Written explanations of Markéta GREGOROVÁ

The Pirate Delegation considers foreign electoral interference a critical problem that is becoming increasingly dangerous to our democratic institutions as the basis for peace and prosperity. Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of the European Union. Particularly, media pluralism, civic education, critical thinking, protection of privacy and freedom of speech are key to defending ourselves against foreign interference.However, our core principles of freedom of speech and the freedom of the internet are being challenged by paragraph 28 of the resolution, which calls on the Commission to ‘close down accounts of persons engaging in illegal activities aimed at the disruption of democratic processes or at instigating hate speech’. Closing down accounts could lead to the distortion of elections through excessive censorship. Free access to information is an essential prerequisite in countering disinformation and foreign electoral interference. Illegal content should be removed and, where applicable, those responsible prosecuted. Closing down accounts, however, would introduce a new type of sanction that could exclude citizens from communication channels needed for work, education and/or personal life. Restricting access to accounts would hamper the right to anonymous and free speech. We cannot support a policing of social media as it would create a dangerous precedent to any following legislative proposals.

It is our common position that Turkey cannot remain a credible candidate for joining the European Union as long as the Turkish Government maintains its unilateral intervention in northeast Syria, which constitutes a grave violation of international law.We, however, strongly condemn the parts of this amendment that state that Turkey is not a European country. A great number of Turkish citizens have shown their enthusiasm for joining the EU on the basis of peace, rule of law and fundamental freedoms. We therefore abstain on this amendement.

The Pirate delegation is deeply concerned by the ongoing and worsening humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. The recent rise in violence by Maduro forces against elected members of the opposition is unacceptable and goes against our fundamental principles. We have thus voted for the joint resolution, as we believe that targeted sanctions against the officials responsible and the EU’s stance to support a peaceful and democratic resolution of the crisis have the best chances of alleviating the suffering of the Venezuelan people.However we did not support amendments recognising the legitimacy of Juan Guaidó and his political representatives, as we consider the situation in the country unclear in this regard. At this time it is not prudent to judge which opposition has more legitimacy than another and thus potentially cause even greater divisions within the country. One aspect is very clear: Nicolás Maduro and his allied organised crime groups are the cause of violence and chaos and must be brought to justice.

. – Animal welfare is a crucial issue for us and we do see the positive idea behind this resolution. We do welcome fair treatment of companion animals and we do not, under any circumstances, support any unfair or illegal trade of those animals.However, there should be a balance between the aim of protecting animals and the right of individuals to respect for privacy. It is not necessary and proportionate to register the personal data of everyone who ever played a part in the life of an animal in a centralised register, as envisaged by this resolution. Likewise, Pirates are opposed to mandatory identification of users of online platforms, including where advertising pets for sale online. It is not justified to discriminate against users of digital marketplaces in comparison to real-life trading.Taking into consideration the relevant language in this resolution, we decided to abstain.

. – We Pirates endorsed the Resolution on the Status of Women. We strive for gender equality and support many of the proposals in the resolution, such as the call to urgently conclude the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, to do more to close the gender pay and pension gap, to eliminate any gender biases in taxation systems or to include a gender perspective in the fight against climate change.However, we voted against point v on quotas. In our opinion, quotas do not constitute the right approach and may discriminate better qualified men and women. We believe skills and knowledge are the key aspects of qualification and they do not belong exclusively to one sex or the other. Every person should have equal access to positions according to their qualification without discrimination because of their gender, age, origin, religion etc.Instead of quotas, we stress the need to introduce other measures to enhance qualification-based representation in decision-making. To increase the participation of women therein and in the labour market in general, we advocate for gender pay transparency, investments in accessibility and affordability of childcare, suitable working environments and flexible working arrangements as some of the key preconditions.

. ‒ The aviation agreement between the EU and Israel is, if seen only on its own merits, a positive step towards fair competition, better respect of labour and social standards, and protection of passenger rights. This agreement would create a regulatory framework for aviation relations between all EU Member States and Israel. We Pirates are in principle supportive of such and similar legal frameworks, because they create cooperation, allow certainty, accountability and show respect for the rule of law.The aviation agreement does not exist in a political vacuum, however. The recently stated explicit policy aim of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition partner to unilaterally annex the West Bank is a blatant violation of international law. It would break its commitments to the Palestinian people under prior peace agreements and destroy any hope of a conflict-ending deal and a two-state solution. Such a grave crime would spark violence and destabilise the entire region. Under these dangerous and disrespectful circumstances we cannot possibly give our support to any legal framework with Israel at this time. Until a time when the Israeli Government demonstrates respect for the rule of law, this agreement must remain frozen.

. ‒ The European Pirates advocate new technology and see a great potential in the application of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technology from which society as a whole should benefit. We therefore support the report in defining important safeguards for the development of these technologies and a future regulatory framework, including risk assessment, security features, transparency and liability. However, it is also our job to define ethical limits for the use of new technologies. We cannot support the acceptance of remote biometric surveillance technologies used by public authorities in public spaces in this report. No safeguards can make indiscriminate mass surveillance and the chilling effect that comes with it acceptable. The report fails to clearly reject these policies and therefore we cannot support it.

. ‒ The European Pirates support a future-oriented civil liability legal framework that provides confidence in the safety, reliability and consistency of AI products and services. The report provides positive points on attempting to clarify the definition of AI, calling for the inclusion of both material and immaterial harm in the scope of future legislation and introducing a high-level compensation system for victims of a high-risk AI system, without having to prove the fault (strict liability).However, the future framework has to strike a balance between efficiently and fairly protecting potential victims of harm or damage and, at the same time provide enough levy for all types of development of new technologies. Legal certainty has to be provided also for innovation in free and open source technologies that are not commercialised, but that are often used as a basis for transformed products and services commercialised at a later stage.Therefore, we insist on enabling all affected persons to bring forward liability claims throughout the commercial chain of producers. Thus, we oppose any vague definition of backend operators that doesn’t exclude non-commercial backend operators, and compensation provisions without limitation to the commercial chain.

In order to unlock the potential of AI technologies, it is necessary to remove unnecessary legal barriers on IPR so as not to hamper innovation in the Union. Therefore, the European Pirates support the call for an impact assessment with regard to the protection of IPRs in the context of the development of AI technologies.However, the objective should not be to add new layers of IP rights and should not call for additional protection, so that AI ‘made in Europe’ can really happen, as called for by the Commission. Furthermore, IPR protection should not be granted for AI to the detriment of open innovation and knowledge sharing. Therefore, we can’t support the report that over-emphasises the role of patent protection as the primary way to incentivise AI inventions and to promote their dissemination, as well as the key role of standard essential patents. Aggressive patent litigation by patent trolls is increasing and constitutes a threat especially for European SMEs. Finally, calling for mandatory IPR protection for creations generated by AI is not just out of the scope of the report but also disrespects the current rules of IPR.

. ‒ The European Pirates agree that it is necessary to ensure that consumers are not exposed to unsafe products in market places, especially medial protective equipment. However, this cannot be achieved merely by increasing the responsibility of private companies and by obliging them to use automated technologies to tackle misleading practices and disinformation. Such technologies are inefficient as they make errors, leaving misleading practices online, while sometimes removing completely legitimate products. They fail to tackle disinformation or any other context-dependent speech even more often, as demonstrated by repeated mistakes made during the COVID-19 crisis.

Čeští Piráti v Evropském parlamentu se rozhodli zdržet u obou rezolucí volajících po přehodnocení návrhu Komise ohledně omezení používání olověné munice v mokřadech, jelikož jsou postavené na hraničních, někdy až zavádějících interpretacích textu. Piráti podporují ochranu ptactva, které na následky požití olova v mokřadech hyne, a jsme rádi, že tento návrh problém dlouhodobě řeší. Zároveň však chápeme výhrady vůči návrhu Komise: v současnosti mezinárodně uznávaná definice mokřadů je nedostatečná a mohla by způsobit komplikace. Členské země si však definici upravují dle své potřeby, pro ČR to konkrétně upravuje MŽP. Toto nařízení nenutí nově používat místo lokálních definic definici Ramsarské úmluvy. Souhlasíme tedy s výhradou, ale neobáváme se tvorby právního vakua. Zároveň chápeme obavy o presumpci neviny kvůli části o nošení olověných brokových nábojů do vzdálenosti 100 metrů od mokřadu. Komise uvádí, že je problematické prokazování používání olova v mokřadech a kolem nich, a proto navrhuje použití obráceného důkazní břemene pro případné provinilce. To vyvolává otázky, jak řádně může jedinec prokázat své úmysly. Zde bude muset nastoupit vnitrostátní úprava, která musí vyjasnit tyto nedostatky a vydat řádné efektivní a přiměřené pokyny pro všechny zúčastněné strany.

Tackling in-work poverty is a critical issue and we support the majority of this report’s proposals. The reason why we abstained is the stance the report takes on prostitution, considering it a serious form of violence and exploitation. This perspective completely disregards situations in which prostitution is legal. Pirates are in favour of decriminalising and regulating sex work, with clear rules that protect the sex workers’ rights. We underline that they should always have the right and means to leave sex work and should be supported to have a real choice.On the other hand, we wish to highlight some of the important measures advocated by the report, such as strengthening investments in digital technology in rural areas. We need more available coverage, but also quality and efficiency that can sustain new modes of work and service delivery for remote regions. This can go a long way in reducing inequalities and increasing employment, as well as investments in lifelong learning and developing the digital skills necessary for the job market.

This resolution highlighted many areas in which we need to make important progress in order to achieve gender equality, such as pay transparency, stepping up the fight against gender-based violence, the role of education and zero tolerance for discrimination, access to safe and legal abortion, etc.However, it included two problematic points, which led to our abstention on the final vote. First, we do not support the introduction of binding quotas in elected bodies. We of course stand behind the full representation of women, but we doubt that quotas are the most efficient means to achieve it. On the contrary, they limit the free choice of voters and could result in discrimination vis-a-vis other groups, creating a system with no choice and not based on capabilities.Secondly, the resolution is calling for the use of any actions to eradicate hate speech and online harassment. As much as we might fight against these phenomena, we consider the use of ‘any’ means to be disproportionate and with the risk of opening the door to solutions we strongly oppose, such as automatic filters.

Pirates stand firmly in support of women’s rights and we were therefore pleased to support the report on Sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU. We deem especially important the fact that it denounces the highly restrictive abortion laws existing in some Member States and reaffirms sexual and reproductive health rights as human rights.There is one argument in the report, which we however do not share. It is making a link between trafficking and prostitution, saying that prostitution fuels the trafficking of vulnerable women and minors. We tried to remove this text from the report in the plenary vote. The reason is that this approach completely disregards situations in which prostitution is legal. Pirates are in favour of de-criminalising and regulating sex work, with clear rules that protect the sex workers’ rights. We underline that they should always have the right and means to leave sex work and should be supported to have a real choice.

Protection of journalists, independent media, media freedoms and pluralisms lies at the core of Pirate policies. We need to find ways how to finance journals and media houses facing obstacles from their national governments. Especially we agree that urgently we need to implement legislation tackling strategic lawsuits against public participation to protect European journalists, given the increasing number of attacks across Europe.Unfortunately, we could not support this report given its language on territorial licenses, which in our opinion go directly against the interests of European consumers. Promoting geo-blocking on audio-visual content is not compatible with exercising freedom of movement within the Union. People, who moved abroad, face difficulties in remaining in contact with their native language and culture, when territorial restrictions are in place.Furthermore, calls for deployment of preventive measures outlined in Art. 17 of the report would imply general monitoring of the Internet and would potentially endanger users’ ability to post hyperlinks, as they would need to know if a content has been made available with the right holders consent.

The European Pirates voted against the report on the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU due to its unfortunate language on territorial licenses. Pushing for maintaining geo-blocking means denying nearly 450 thousands Europeans right for equal access. It means denying European artists and creators access to pan-European audience and denying millions in revenue from lost sales. We agree that the European Commission in an envisaged dialogue on territorial licenses must discuss with all relevant stakeholders. The COVID-19 pandemic proved there has been a significantly increased demand in consumption of audiovisual digital content. Geo-blocking remains a serious obstacle in achieving full European Digital Single Market.Furthermore, we perceive the call on urgent transposition of the Copyright directive premature, due to the ongoing investigations of the European Court of Justice on practical implication of Article 17. The obligation effectively forces content-sharing service providers to deploy automated means to filter online content to prevent re-uploads, which poses serious threats to users’ rights to freedom of expression.

We approved the report on the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe in the consultation procedure. Taking into account the opinion of the European Parliament, the establishment of the nine Joint Undertakings (JUs) will be able to go forward, in order to facilitate the delivery of the objectives of the research program. In its position, the EP insisted on some positive elements such as more transparency and accountability of the JUs, which we support.On the contrary, we are strongly opposed to the proposed measures that effectively amount to gender quotas. Parliament agreed that the Independent Scientific Advisory Board shall consist of eight representatives, and that its membership shall be geographically and gender-balanced. We believe that the members should be selected based on their qualification for the job and not because of their gender. We need to do our utmost to support women to be able to apply for these positions and to obtain the necessary qualifications. A host of actions are necessary to achieve the equal starting position of women, but trying to impose quotas is an ineffective shortcut, trying to solve the problem of women under-representation by the wrong end.

This report correctly names existing problems related to structural racism in society and suggests, in a vast majority of cases, appropriate solutions to tackle them. For the Pirates, the fight for equality and against racism and discrimination is deeply rooted in our fundamental principles.However, we voted against the report due to the calls to improve upload filters and due to provisions promoting the code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online, as the code relies on content moderation based on unilateral decisions made by the platforms instead of a judicial assessment of potential hate speech and does not limit removal of content without judicial assessment to manifestly illegal content. Both of which pose a serious risk to freedom on speech.

We appreciate and fully support the determination expressed in this resolution for improving participation and removing discrimination in democratic processes in the EU. The resolution rightly highlights the need to address the voting opportunities of disadvantaged groups of citizens and enable persons with disabilities to exercise their full rights as EU citizens. It raises a number of favourable proposals in terms of rainbow families, children in cross-border custody, etc.Even though we support the resolution’s digital proposals such as digitalisation of public services, or the establishment of an online one-stop-shop centralising all EU participatory instruments, we cannot agree with the call on Member States to implement remote voting options, including electronic voting.Safe and secure electronic voting, is, at this time, technologically impossible. The text evokes safeguards, which however cannot be realistically met. There is ample potential for fraud and misuse, which makes the proposal too risky. This is why we voted against the report.

The Pirate delegation in the European Parliament decided to abstain on the Report on Mental Health on the grounds that paragraph 54 calls on the Member States to detect and prevent the use of addictive licit and illicit substances. This wording is calling for stricter prohibition in place of sound harm reduction policies, which present the preferred solution.Additionally, the report fails to consider the latest science on certain psychoactive substances which can be addictive (ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin), but in therapeutical settings they are shown to help treat patients with depression, PTSD and addiction. The Pirates would like to see a reclassification of these substances to allow for their medical use, instead of reinforcing outdated prohibition principles.