Tag: Parliament

ChatGPT broke the EU plan to regulate AI

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Artificial intelligence’s newest sensation — the gabby chatbot-on-steroids ChatGPT — is sending European rulemakers back to the drawing board on how to regulate AI.
The chatbot dazzled the internet in past months with its rapid-fire production of human-like prose. It declared its love for a New York Times journalist. It wrote a haiku about monkeys breaking free from a laboratory. It even got to the floor of the European Parliament, where two German members gave speeches drafted by ChatGPT to highlight the need to rein in AI technology.
But after months of internet lolz — and doomsaying from critics — the technology is now confronting European Union regulators with a puzzling question: How do we bring this thing under control?

The technology has already upended work done by the European Commission, European Parliament and EU Council on the bloc’s draft artificial intelligence rulebook, the Artificial Intelligence Act. The regulation, proposed by the Commission in 2021, was designed to ban some AI applications like social scoring, manipulation and some instances of facial recognition. It would also designate some specific uses of AI as “high-risk,” binding developers to stricter requirements of transparency, safety and human oversight.
The catch? ChatGPT can serve both the benign and the malignant.
This type of AI, called a large language model, has no single intended use: People can prompt it to write songs, novels and poems, but also computer code, policy briefs, fake news reports or, as a Colombian judge has admitted, court rulings. Other models trained on images rather than text can generate everything from cartoons to false pictures of politicians, sparking disinformation fears.
In one case, the new Bing search engine powered by ChatGPT’s technology threatened a researcher with “hack[ing]” and “ruin.” In another, an AI-powered app to transform pictures into cartoons called Lensa hypersexualized photos of Asian women.
“These systems have no ethical understanding of the world, have no sense of truth, and they’re not reliable,” said Gary Marcus, an AI expert and vocal critic.
These AIs “are like engines. They are very powerful engines and algorithms that can do quite a number of things and which themselves are not yet allocated to a purpose,” said Dragoș Tudorache, a Liberal Romanian lawmaker who, together with S&D Italian lawmaker Brando Benifei, is tasked with shepherding the AI Act through the European Parliament.
Already, the tech has prompted EU institutions to rewrite their draft plans. The EU Council, which represents national capitals, approved its version of the draft AI Act in December, which would entrust the Commission with establishing cybersecurity, transparency and risk-management requirements for general-purpose AIs.
The rise of ChatGPT is now forcing the European Parliament to follow suit. In February the lead lawmakers on the AI Act, Benifei and Tudorache, proposed that AI systems generating complex texts without human oversight should be part of the “high-risk” list — an effort to stop ChatGPT from churning out disinformation at scale.
The idea was met with skepticism by right-leaning political groups in the European Parliament, and even parts of Tudorache’s own Liberal group. Axel Voss, a prominent center-right lawmaker who has a formal say over Parliament’s position, said that the amendment “would make numerous activities high-risk, that are not risky at all.”
The two lead Parliament lawmakers are working to impose stricter requirements on both developers and users of ChatGPT and similar AI models | Pool photo by Kenzo Tribouillard/EPA-EFE
In contrast, activists and observers feel that the proposal was just scratching the surface of the general-purpose AI conundrum. “It’s not great to just put text-making systems on the high-risk list: you have other general-purpose AI systems that present risks and also ought to be regulated,” said Mark Brakel, a director of policy at the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit focused on AI policy.
The two lead Parliament lawmakers are also working to impose stricter requirements on both developers and users of ChatGPT and similar AI models, including managing the risk of the technology and being transparent about its workings. They are also trying to slap tougher restrictions on large service providers while keeping a lighter-tough regime for everyday users playing around with the technology.
Professionals in sectors like education, employment, banking and law enforcement have to be aware “of what it entails to use this kind of system for purposes that have a significant risk for the fundamental rights of individuals,” Benifei said.
If Parliament has trouble wrapping its head around ChatGPT regulation, Brussels is bracing itself for the negotiations that will come after.
The European Commission, EU Council and Parliament will hash out the details of a final AI Act in three-way negotiations, expected to start in April at the earliest. There, ChatGPT could well cause negotiators to hit a deadlock, as the three parties work out a common solution to the shiny new technology.
On the sidelines, Big Tech firms — especially those with skin in the game, like Microsoft and Google — are closely watching.
The EU’s AI Act should “maintain its focus on high-risk use cases,” said Microsoft’s Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton, suggesting that general-purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT are hardly being used for risky activities, and instead are used mostly for drafting documents and helping with writing code.
“We want to make sure that high-value, low-risk use cases continue to be available for Europeans,” Crampton said. (ChatGPT, created by U.S. research group OpenAI, has Microsoft as an investor and is now seen as a core element in its strategy to revive its search engine Bing. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.)
A recent investigation by transparency activist group Corporate Europe Observatory also said industry actors, including Microsoft and Google, had doggedly lobbied EU policymakers to exclude general-purpose AI like ChatGPT from the obligations imposed on high-risk AI systems.
Could the bot itself come to EU rulemakers’ rescue, perhaps?
ChatGPT told POLITICO it thinks it might need regulating: “The EU should consider designating generative AI and large language models as ‘high risk’ technologies, given their potential to create harmful and misleading content,” the chatbot responded when questioned on whether it should fall under the AI Act’s scope.
“The EU should consider implementing a framework for responsible development, deployment, and use of these technologies, which includes appropriate safeguards, monitoring, and oversight mechanisms,” it said.
The EU, however, has follow-up questions.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

March 2, 2023
Finnish Parliament approves accession to NATO

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Helsinki: The Finnish parliament has approved legislation allowing the country to join the NATO. As many as 184 members of parliament voted in favour, with seven against and one abstention.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will sign the legislation “as soon as possible,” he said on Wednesday.
In May 2022, the Finnish parliament accepted an application to join NATO with a majority of 188 to eight, Xinhua news agency reported.
So far, 28 NATO member countries have ratified Finnish membership, with Turkey and Hungary still pending.
The Finnish parliament wanted to finalise the domestic vote before the upcoming parliamentary elections, said national broadcaster Yle.
Wednesday’s vote was also required in the parliament as MP Markku Mustajarvi, of the Left League, has submitted an initiative against NATO membership.
Mustajarvi said Finland is not setting enough conditions to join, for example regarding the placement of nuclear weapons in Finland, the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported.
“I consider the biggest problem with NATO membership to be … that Finland accepts NATO’s nuclear weapons policy, and at the same time effectively renounces its non-nuclear status,” said MP Johannes Yrttiaho who supported Mustajarvi’s concern.

Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in the parliament that the decision on the NATO Act does not change Finland’s position, or legislation on nuclear weapons.
Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen also added: “We are not trying to bring them to Finland, and no one is trying to force them here either.”
According to Yle, Haavisto has said he believes both Finland and Sweden will be members of the military alliance by the time of the NATO summit in Vilnius next summer.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 2, 2023
Northern Ireland deal to be voted on in British Parliament

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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, said on Monday (27) that he will submit to a vote in Parliament the agreement reached with the European Union (EU) to reform the Protocol on Northern Ireland.
“Parliament will hold a vote, at the appropriate time, and that vote will be respected,” Sunak told a news conference.
Sunak would also go to the House of Commons this Monday to explain the agreement with the EU to British MPs. This is one of the prime minister’s main challenges at the beginning of his term, in particular the need to obtain the support of the more eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (DUP), which are the forces that lead the opposition to the current protocol.
The leader of the DUP, Jeffrey Donaldson, assured that he will not give an immediate answer on his position, but that he will take time to analyze the text signed in Windsor by Sunak and the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.
“It is important that we give everyone the time and space they need to study in detail the new regime that we have announced”, said the prime minister.
Sunak has a large majority in the House of Commons, which makes an eventual rebellion in the conservative ranks difficult. In addition, he was assured that the largest opposition Labor Party would secure the necessary votes to move the deal forward.
“Due to the nature and breadth of the deal, it will take some time for everyone to digest. But ultimately, it’s not about me or the politicians, it’s about the people of Northern Ireland and what is better for them”, assured Sunak.
According to the current protocol, Northern Ireland is included in the Community and British internal market, so trade controls between the United Kingdom and the EU are carried out between the island of Great Britain and Ireland, which avoids the increase of a physical border between the two Irelands and allows not to jeopardize the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

This commercial border, located on the Irish Sea, has also created political problems among unionists, as they consider it to be detrimental to their relationship with the rest of the United Kingdom.
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 27, 2023
Congress says committed to 33% reservation in legislatures, Parliament for women

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Nava Raipur: The Congress has said it is committed to 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures and Parliament, promising that it would strive to pass the legislation — ensuring that it is an “inclusive reservation” — to see young women from the backward, Dalit and tribal communities are elected.
In its youth, education and employment resolution adopted at the 85th plenary session here, the Congress said sexual violence also takes communal and casteist shades.
“The cruelly raped Bilkis Bano is still fighting for justice and the young Dalit women raped and murdered in Kathua, Unnao, Hathras and in other places are fighting the arduous battle for justice and to smash the impunity our society offers to people who indulge in sexual violence on minority and oppressed women,” the party resolution said.
While the Congress is committed to building a progressive, safe society by empowering women, the RSS “objectifies and disempowers women”, the resolution alleged.
The Congress believes in an equal future for women. It is committed to the creation of equal opportunities for women in education and employment and their socio-political-economic empowerment, it said.
The resolution said the Congress will ensure that prevention of sexual harassment committees are formed in all workplaces.
The party asserted that it is committed to the 33 per cent reservation in legislatures and Parliament for women and tabled the bill when the UPA government was in power.
“We will strive to pass the bill seeking 33 per cent reservation while ensuring that this is an inclusive reservation which will see our young women from the Backward, Dalit and Tribal communities reaching legislatures and Parliament to take our nation forward,” the resolution said.

The Congress resolves to realise the vision of gender equity and ensure justice for all sections of the society, it said.
In the resolution, the party said it believes in the political empowerment of the youth, right from the panchayat level to Parliament.
“Ensuring internal democracy within the Indian Youth Congress and National Student Union of India were effective steps taken in this direction under the guidance of our leader, Rahul Gandhi,” it said.
“We strongly believe that it is imperative that the Udaipur Declaration be implemented in word and spirit. We recognise that 50 under 50 was a revolutionary concept for the Congress organisation that must be implemented across all party positions from booth level to the Congress Working Committee,” the party said.
Similarly, keeping a five-year term for all the positions is also important to give a chance to newer people in the organisation, it added.
The Congress also alleged that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is trying to reduce the entire education to that of literacy, numeracy, and skilling, and aims to weaken the public education system.
It claimed that the NEP is a roadmap for establishing a “mono cultural nation”.
“Every feature of NEP 2020 aims to demolish the basic structure of the Constitution, particularly federalism and social justice,” it said.
In its resolution, the Congress also expressed deep concern over the “rampant” rise in unemployment.
The Modi government’s recent decision to launch the Agniveer scheme has snatched opportunities to serve the nation from the hands of millions of Indian youths, the party alleged.
“We demand that the Army revert to previous recruitment schemes where permanent jobs can be provided to youth eager to serve the nation,” the resolution said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 27, 2023
Replace Gandhi with Savarkar on currency, rename Parliament after him: Hindu Mahasabha

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Meerut: The All India Hindu Mahasabha on Sunday demanded that the image of Mahatma Gandhi on currency notes be replaced with that of V D Savarkar and other freedom fighters.
In an open letter to the Government of India, the Hindu Mahasabha also asked for renaming the road leading to the Parliament House after Savarkar.
Mahasabha leaders said this will be true tribute to Savarkar, a freedom fighter and former president of the Hindu Mahasabha, from the Modi government.
Savarkar’s 58th death anniversary was observed at the office of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha on Sharda Road by performing havan puja and rituals on Sunday.
Presiding over the programme, National Vice President of Hindu Mahasabha, Pandit Ashok Sharma said Savarkar was a great historical revolutionary in India’s freedom struggle.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 26, 2023
Israeli Parliament advances bill aiming to override top court

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Jerusalem: A bill that would allow Israeli lawmakers to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority has been advanced by Parliament.
The “Supreme Court override bill”, which passed in a preliminary vote in Parliament with a 61-52 majority, still needs three full rounds of votes before becoming law, reports Xinhua news agency.
If approved, the law will enable a narrow majority of 61 lawmakers in the 120-seat Parliament to re-enact laws that have been struck down by the Supreme Court, even if the court finds them unconstitutional.
This is the latest effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right ruling coalition to weaken the Supreme Court and give greater power to the government over the legal system by swiftly passing a series of laws.
Critics say Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul Israel’s legal system will undermine the independence of the judiciary, weaken the rule of law, and potentially threaten democracy by giving the government too much power.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, returned to office in December 2022 as the leader of the most right-wing governing coalition in the country’s history.
He is standing a criminal trial over three separate cases of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
He denies the charges, saying they are part of a “witch hunt”.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 23, 2023
You ain’t no middleman: EU and NATO slam China’s bid to be a Ukraine peacemaker

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BRUSSELS — China’s attempt to style itself as a neutral peacemaker in the Ukraine war fell flat on Friday when NATO and the EU both slammed its playbook for ending the conflict one year after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Beijing is a key strategic ally of Russia, which it sees as a useful partner against the West and NATO. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Chinese companies are already supplying “non-lethal” aid to Russia, but added there are indications that China is weighing up sending arms — something Beijing denies.
Earlier on Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry published a 12-point, 892-word “position paper” with a view to settling what it calls the “Ukraine crisis,” without referring to it as a war.

“China’s position builds on a misplaced focus on the so-called ‘legitimate security interests and concerns’ of parties, implying a justification for Russia’s illegal invasion, and blurring the roles of the aggressor and the aggressed,” Nabila Massrali, the EU’s foreign policy spokeswoman, said in a press briefing.
“The position paper doesn’t take into account who is the aggressor and who is the victim of an illegal and unjustified war of aggression,” Massrali, said, calling the Chinese position paper “selective and insufficient about their implications for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said China’s stance was anything but neutral.
“It is not a peace plan but principles that they shared. You have to see them against a specific backdrop. And that is the backdrop that China has taken sides, by signing for example an unlimited friendship right before Russia’s invasion in Ukraine started,” she said at a press conference in Estonia. “So we will look at the principles, of course. But we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also joined officials in pouring cold water on Beijing.
“China doesn’t have much credibility,” he told reporters on Friday, responding to the latest official document. “They have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg added that there have been “signs and indications that China may be planning and considering to supply military aid to Russia,” although NATO has not seen “any actual delivery of lethal aid.”
China has been hoping to improve ties with the Europeans, as it doubles down on efforts to discredit the U.S.
Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying, for instance, accused the U.S. of benefiting from the war. Wang Lutong, the head of European affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, appealed directly to the European Union: “China is willing to make joint efforts with the EU and continue to play a constructive role on Ukraine,” Wang said in a tweet, adding a screenshot of the latest proposal.
More doubts
Merely five lines into China’s newly unveiled official plan on resolving the “Ukraine crisis” — released on Friday marking the first-year point of what Beijing studiously refuses to call a war — Russian propaganda appears.
“The security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs,” the Chinese foreign ministry position paper reads, supporting the Russian claim that war broke out in order to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
The next point in the Chinese plan: “All parties must … avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions.” Chinese diplomats have in recent weeks accused the U.S. of being the biggest arms supplier for Ukraine, while it faces mounting pressure not to provide Russia with weapons.
Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, called China’s position “hypocritical.”
“[China’s proposal] is very reminiscent of the hypocritical Soviet rhetoric of ‘fight for peace,’” said Merezhko. “It’s a set of declarative empty slogans; it’s not backed by specifics or an implementation mechanism.”
Paramedics carry an injured Ukrainian serviceman who stepped on an anti-personnel land mine | Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
Merezhko also asked Europe not to fall for China’s charm offensive as it seeks to split the transatlantic unity on assisting his country. “China, just like Russia, is trying to split the EU and the U.S. and to undermine transatlantic solidarity,” he told POLITICO in response to the Chinese proposal. “It’s very dangerous.”
Central and Eastern European countries, the most vocal supporters of arming Ukraine further, are equally dismissive of Beijing’s rhetoric.
“China’s plan is vague and does not offer solutions,” Ivana Karásková, who heads the China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe think tank based in Prague. “The plan calls on Russia and Ukraine to deal with the issue themselves, which would only benefit Russia; China continues to oppose what it calls unilateral sanctions and asks for the sanctions to be approved by the UN Security Council — well, given the fact that the aggressor is a permanent UNSC member with a veto right, this claim is beyond ridiculous.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 21, 2023
Brexit: UK and EU strike deal on Northern Ireland protocol

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LONDON — The U.K. and the EU finally reached a deal after months of talks over contentious post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.
Already, both sides are pitching it as a major reset in frayed relations — but U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak still has to sell it to skeptics in his own party and beyond.
The so-called “Windsor Framework” comes after a final day of talks between Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Windsor.

In key developments Monday:
— Sunak and von der Leyen talked up the deal as a “new chapter” in EU-U.K. ties at a Windsor press conference.
— The U.K. PM urged his MPs to get behind him in a Commons statement, as key Brexiteers gave supportive early comments.
— Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) vowed to study the text closely before deciding whether or not to back it.
— And Brexiteers in the U.K. hit out at No. 10 Downing Street over a meeting between King Charles III and von der Leyen on the same day a deal was struck.
‘New chapter’
Details of the new agreement are now being pored over by lawmakers on both sides of the English Channel, but the plan is aimed at easing customs red-tape, equalizing some tax rules across the United Kingdom, and giving Northern Ireland’s lawmakers more of a say over the future of the arrangement.
“The United Kingdom and European Union may have had our differences in the past, but we are allies, trading partners and friends, something that we’ve seen clearly in the past year as we joined with others to support Ukraine,” Sunak said at the joint press conference. “This is the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship.”
That line was echoed by von der Leyen, who said the plan would allow the two sides “to begin a new chapter,” and offer up “long-lasting solutions that both of us are confident will work for all people and businesses in Northern Ireland.”
Sunak — under pressure to hold a House of Commons vote on the agreement — told MPs Monday evening that the arrangement would end “burdensome customs bureaucracy” and “routine checks” on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and claimed he had “delivered what the people of Northern Ireland asked for … We have removed the border in the Irish Sea.”
He now faces the sizable task of convicing Brexiteer lawmakers on his own Conservative benches, many of whom will be closely watching the verdict of Northern Ireland’s fiercely anti-protocol DUP, to get on board.
“Our judgment and our principled position in opposing the protocol in Parliament and at Stormont has been vindicated,” said DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson Monday night. “Undoubtedly it is now recognized that the protocol does not work. When others said there would be no renegotiation and no change, our determination has proved what can be achieved.”
Stormont brake
The protocol has been a long-running source of tension between the U.K. and the EU, and the two sides have been locked in months of talks to try to ease the way it works.
Under the arrangement, the EU requires checks on trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in order to preserve the integrity of its single market and avoid such checks taking place at the sensitive land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The DUP has been boycotting the region’s power-sharing government while it pushes for major changes to a set-up it sees as driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
Speaking at the press conference, Sunak and von der Leyen talked up a host of changes to the protocol that they hope will be enough to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
Under the revised plan, goods moving from Great Britain but destined only for Northern Ireland will travel through a new “green lane” with fewer checks, while a separate, more stringent, “red lane” for goods at risk of moving on to the Republic of Ireland — and thereby entering the EU’s single market — will now operate.
Sunak said food retailers would “no longer need hundreds of certificates for every lorry” entering Northern Ireland, while food made to U.K. standards will be able to be freely sent to and sold in Northern Ireland. He also vowed that the new pact would scrap customs paperwork for people sending parcels to family or friends or shopping online.
UK PM Rishi Sunak and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen hope that the host of changes to the Brexit protocol announced today will be enough to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland | Dan Kitwood/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The two sides have also amended the text of the protocol, Sunak said, to allow U.K. VAT and excise changes to apply in Northern Ireland — while a “landmark” settlement on medicines will mean drugs approved for use by the U.K. medicines regulator will be “automatically available in every pharmacy and hospital in Northern Ireland.”
And London and Brussels are now jointly pitching a new “Stormont brake,” claiming this will allow the devolved assembly in Northern Ireland — currently on ice amid a DUP boycott over the protocl — to prevent changes to EU goods rules “that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives” from applying in the region.
“This gives the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland a powerful new safeguard based on cross-community consent,” Sunak promised.
DUP’s next move
As he departed for London, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he and senior party colleagues would “take time to look at the deal” – a process likely to run at least through the weekend and to involve specially-commissioned analysis by constitutional lawyers. Early word from some Conservative Brexiteers was positive, with David Davis — who quit Theresa May’s government over her own EU deal-making — hailed it as a “a formidable negotiating success.”
Before flying out of Belfast, Donaldson briefed his party’s 25 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly about the expected key points. The DUP lawmakers met at Stormont, the seat of the power-sharing legislature that the DUP has blocked since May.
Donaldson said the DUP’s legal counsel would produce a detailed analysis for consideration by the party’s executive officers.
“It is vital that Northern Ireland’s place within the U.K. and its internal market is restored. We will have lawyers assess the legal text to ensure that this [is] in fact the case,” Donaldson told the Belfast News Letter, the main unionist newspaper in Northern Ireland.
Later, Donaldson told the BBC he was “neither positive nor negative” when assessing whether the DUP should accept the compromise package on offer.
“We need to take time to look at the deal, what’s available, and how does that match our seven tests,” he said, referring to the DUP’s July 2021 list of demands for “replacing” the protocol.
Other DUP officials said the party’s senior leadership would convene at party headquarters in Belfast, possibly on Saturday, to review the party’s legal verdict on the deal – and whether concessions won by the U.K. government were sufficient to end the DUP’s obstruction of power-sharing at Stormont.
Donaldson will seek maximum support at that meeting before committing to any policy pivot on the protocol. Other senior officials, including former deputy leader Lord Dodds, have explicitly rejected the idea of reviving Stormont if the revised protocol agreement retains any oversight role for the CJEU. Both Donaldson and the DUP’s “seven tests” have stopped short of drawing this red line.
Ever since narrowly losing May’s assembly elections to the Irish republicans of Sinn Féin, the DUP has refused not only to form a new cross-community government – the assembly’s central function under terms of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord – but also has blocked the election of a neutral speaker for the assembly, preventing it from sitting.
This developing story is being updated. Annabelle Dickson and Noah Keate contributed reporting.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 21, 2023
How many times did Parliament discuss conduct of Speaker, SC asks Uddhav faction

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday shot a volley of questions at the Uddhav Thackeray faction, asking how many times did the Parliament discuss a review of the conduct of the Speaker, why is that question raised before the court, and also, why should the court change rules just because one or two Speakers went astray.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray faction, submitted before a five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, that “your lordships have great confidence in the constitutional office of the Speaker but do they discharge this confidence?”
At this, the Chief Justice replied: “You also have that confidence when you say that the Speaker has to decide the disqualification petitions… that is not dependent on who is the Speaker, Mr Sibal”. He added that the constitutional authority of the Speaker to decide is not based on who the Speaker is.
Sibal said the a Speaker who appoints the whip and Leader of the Opposition without reference to the political party, “you think he can decide in my favour, there is no way!”
The Chief Justice said: “The first Speaker in defiance of legislative rules gave two days’ notice… this is the way everybody is behaving. There are two options: either you debunk the authority of the Speaker or.. in a democracy you value the office of the institution… denigrating constitutional offices including the office of the Speaker.”
When Sibal said they are denigrating themselves, the bench — also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha — said: “It is a race to the bottom then.”
Justice Narasimha told Sibal: “Legislators, parliamentarians…. decided upon the Speaker to be the tribunal.. it is parliamentarians’ decision, the Tenth Schedule. Therefore, the court is only interpreting that…”
Sibal referred to the decision of the apex court on 27 June last year, where the court granted interim relief to Shinde faction by extending the time to file responses to the disqualification notices. It later, on June 29, gave the go-ahead to a floor test called by the Governor.

Justice Narasimha orally observed: “On one hand if the Speaker is with you, you would say it is a constitutional authority. What is wrong with it… if you have some difficulty, you mean, not you. Look at the way Speakers have behaved. For us, as long as the constitution bench judgment is there, we will go by the fact that the Speaker is the tribunal.”
The bench further added that the Speaker is the presiding officer as per Tenth Schedule and “we will not go back on the decision, that is the final decision, as far as we are concerned”.
Sibal replied by that logic, the June 27 order could not have been passed, and that is what led to what way we are today.
Justice Kohli said that if one or two Speakers have gone astray, would the court be inclined to debunk the whole procedure as laid down and the Tenth Schedule?
To this, Sibal said: My intention is not that, I have been telling what is happening.” Justice Kohli said then it is a conundrum. Sibal said: “Yes, it is a conundrum, a constitutional conundrum and somebody has to sort it out.”
At this juncture, justice Narasimha said: “Another question, every time this question is raised before the court. I would want to ask you how many times did the parliamentarians raise this question in the Parliament saying let us actually amend the Constitution.”
“How many times did the discussion take place in the Parliament to review the conduct of the Speaker. Why is that question raised before the court, which is not a forum for consideration. how many times parties have sat down together and decided this is not working?” he asked.
“Once Kihoto Hollohan was rendered then,” Sibal said referring to the apex court verdict in the 1992 case, upholding the sweeping discretion available to the Speaker in deciding cases of disqualification of MLAs.
Justice Narasimha replied: “Why, it only upheld the Tenth Schedule. It is your making, the Tenth Schedule. This will take us nowhere, Mr Sibal. Frankly, unless there is an amendment to the Constitution, there is a reference, a direct challenge…”
The top court made these observations while dealing with Maharashtra political crisis triggered due to rebellion in the Shiv Sena. It will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday.
On February 17, the apex court had declined to make immediate reference to a seven-judge bench the reconsideration of its 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment, which restricted the power of the Speaker to examine disqualification petitions against MLAs if a resolution for his removal is pending.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India said the issue of reference will be decided only with the merits of the case and fixed the matter for hearing on merits on February 21.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 21, 2023
Putin suspends participation in key nuclear arms treaty

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he is suspending Moscow’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States.
Russia will halt its participation in the New START Treaty, Putin announced in a lengthy speech to his country’s parliament.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,” he said.
The U.S. recently raised concerns that Russia is not complying with provisions of the treaty, designed to place limits on strategic offensive arms.
The agreement — formally called the treaty between the U.S. and Russia on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms — originally entered into force in 2011, and includes limitations on systems such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear warheads on deployed ICBMs. The deal also includes processes for verification.
Earlier this month, NATO called on the Kremlin to stick to its commitments.
“NATO Allies agree the New START Treaty contributes to international stability by constraining Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear forces,” allies said in a statement.
“Russia’s refusal to convene a session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) within the treaty-established timeframe, and to facilitate U.S. inspection activities on its territory since August 2022 prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the Treaty,” the allies said.

“We call on Russia,” the allies added, “to fulfil its obligations.”
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he regrets Russia’s decision.
“Over the last years, Russia has violated and walked away from key arms control agreements,” he said at a press conference.
“With today’s decision on New START, the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled,” the NATO chief added. “I strongly encourage Russia to reconsider its decision and to respect existing agreements.”
The U.S.’ top diplomat also condemned Putin’s move.
“Russia’s announcement that it is suspending its participation in New Start is very disappointing and irresponsible,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. “But of course we remain ready to discuss the limitation of strategic arms at any time with Russia regardless of anything that happens in the world or in our relations.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 20, 2023