Skriftliga förklaringar Markéta GREGOROVÁ

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Pirates would like to see a reclassification of these substances to allow for their medical use, instead of reinforcing outdated prohibition principles.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

. ‒ 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.