Below is a quick translation by me. Google Translate sucks for Slovenian.

Why I Signed the ACTA treaty

On Thursday, 26 January 2012, I signed the The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in accordance with the instructions and authorization given by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. A slightly longer explanation can be found in the Press Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which explains both the Ministry?s role as well as mine as the Ambassador to Japan. The explanation explains that I?ve signed the treaty as the government authorized me to do it and it is a part of my job.

Anyway, why did I sign ACTA? Every day, I get questions through Facebook and by e-mail from mainly friendly and appalled people, who cannot understand what I was thinking to sign a treaty that is harmful to the country and its citizens. With this response that reflects my personal opinion I wish to respond to all friends, acquaintances, anonymous people and my children.

My signing ACTA is a result of civic negligence. Simply put, I did not link the treaty, for which I was authorized to sign by the government, with the treaty that I believe limits and restricts the freedom of using the largest and the most important network in humanity?s history and as such puts limits on future generations of our children. I indulged in a period of civic carelessness, I took a vacation from media reports from Slovenia, I took a break from Avaaz and its inflation of petitions – put simply, I?ve taken a break. In my defense, I say that I really needed this break and that I still have difficulties recharging my energies for the new dragon?s year. At the same time, I am trying to perform work that is increasing in volume. All in the name of the motto ?Less is more? that has not been limited to diplomats in recent years. Less money and less people for more work. And then you overlook what it is that you are signing. And you wake up the next morning carrying the unbearable lightness of some signature.

The first thing I did was to apologize to my children. Then I tried to respond to the first queries from friends and strangers that asked questions and were appalled. Because the number of these questions has grown so much, I am now responding publicly. I wish to perform for performing my job but not my civic duty. I don?t know how much choice I?ve had not to sign it, but I could have tried. I did not. I did not take the opportunity to fight for the right of us, bureaucrats, to conscientiously object.

There is another very important reason to write this. This campaign is demonizing an ?idiot?, namely me, who signed something in secret in Tokio. This stance was heard in the Slovenian parliament and the Slovenian media and is spreading online. This is dangerous, because it obscures the responsibility of those, who had the power to decide and actually decided for Slovenia to join ACTA. This decision was made by the Slovenian government and the Parliamentary Commission for EU matters. Even before that, Slovenia has participated in treaty negotiations. None of this was done publicly enough, if we can judge by the shocked responses after the signing. Slovenian media did not demonize these decisions to the same degree and in the same way as they are demonizing my signature. At the same time, this means that it was not just my lapse in attention and that we, the citizens of Slovenia, collectively neglected our civic duty. And it means that some of the more obscure parties in Slovenian politics missed an excellent opportunity to get some votes in the pre-election process.

On Saturday, 4 February 2012, a rally against ACTA will be held in Ljubljana. The real concerns and determination of Slovenian citizens that the treaty must not be ratified will be reflected in the number of those who join the rally. One of the concerned people writing to me, asked me what the late Janez Drnov?ek, my brother, would think about me signing this document. The fight for civil liberties is definitely in the spirit of his legacy, much more so than a removal or non-removal of some statue. The Saturday rally is a small part of this fight that goes on every day and never ends. Let my example be a warning of how easily we can make mistakes, if we let things slide. If nothing else, it stops us from sleeping.

Helena Drnov?ek Zorko