Spanish Government Knocking Down Compromise On EU Patent ...

Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister for enterprise and streamlining policy of Belgium, presiding over EU Council meeting

As already reported yesterday on this Blog, today there has been an extraordinary session of the EU Council - Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space) - solely devoted to the EU Patent issue. The Council session begun on Wednesday November 10, 2010, at 1600h. It was chaired by Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgian Minister for enterprise and streamlining policy. In public deliberation, the Council exchanged views on translation arrangements for a future EU patent system. The meeting was then followed by an informal non-public working dinner.

The deliberations were based on Document 15395/10 as well as on an addendum Document 15395/10 ADD1 hastily put on the table by the Belgian Presidency.

A video of the public deliberations is available on-line (however, I'm afraid, only for users utilising a Microsoft Windows platform, unfortunately)

After 2200h it was clear that the meeting had failed to reach a compromise.

In a press conference, Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne explained that, in his view, 'no stones were left unturned, however, in spite of the progress made, we have fallen short of unanimity by a small margin'. He said that 26 of 27 delegations 'were in negotiation mode' while 'one delegation apparently did not have a mandate to negotiate'. Hence, the conference was a failure by a very narrow margin. However, in view of the fact that the Lisbon treaty requres unanimity in all language issues, there seem to be little chances to go further ahead. The Belgian EU Presidency will now re-consider the result of today's meeting and decide on how to proceed. Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne made some vague indications of thinking about 'other avenues in the (Lisbon) treaty'.

While Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne did not explicitly name the single one country that 'was not in negotiation mode'. I think that he hinted at Spain, the representative of which, Mr Diego LÓPEZ GARRIDO, Secretary of State for the European Union in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, re-iterated at length the stubborn rejection of the Madrid Government of taking the 'Munich' three languages regime (English, German, French) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) as a basis for a future EU Patent. In particular he argued that the proposals tabled by the Belgian Presidency would mean that after a transitory period of six years or so the EU Patent most likely would be reduced to the 'Munich' three languages system which the Spanish Government finds inacceptable. The representative of the Italian Government, Mr Andrea RONCHI, Italian Minister of European Affairs, also brought forward various reservations but my overall impression was that Italy has been in 'negotiation mode' as reflected by Mr Van Quickenborne.

It is a pain to watch the Government of a country like Spain ruining progress on EU level by insisting on nurturing some sort of national pride.

[UPDATE_1 2010-11-11] See the Official press release here.
[UPDATE_2 2010-11-11] See an article on euactive.com.
[UPDATE_3 2010-11-11] See also an article by Mr Simon Taylor on EuropeanVoice.com, saying: "[...] The next step is likely to be an attempt to use enhanced co-operation powers to allow a group of member states to set up common patent rules. This requires a request from at least nine member states and needs to be approved by a weighted majority. The European Commission's view is that such a move would not harm the internal market. [...]". Apparently this is meant by 'other avenues in the (Lisbon) treaty' yesterday hinted at by Mr Van Quickenborne.

(Photo: (C) 2010 by The Council of the European Union)