One of the European Parliament’s vice presidents has voiced his support for the Stop Killing Games campaign, and said he’s signed the group’s petition to the European Commission to stop publishers rendering online games unplayable by shutting down their servers.
The petition surpassed a million signatures recently, though there are concerns that some of the signatories are fake. It has received some pushback from bodies representing game publishers, so it’s no surprise the organisers have welcomed an endorsement from Nicolae Ștefănuță.
Ștefănuță voiced his support for Stop Killing Games via his Instagram story over the weekend, writing: “I stand with the people who started this citizen initiative. I signed and will continue to help them. A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company.”
If you don’t keep up with EU politics on a daily basis, Nicolae Ștefănuță is a Romanian MEP currently representing the left-leaning Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament. He’s also one of the legislative body’s fourteen vice-presidents, having been elected to that position in July last year.
These vice-presidents work underneath the EU Parliament’s president – right now that’s Maltese politician Roberta Metsola – and may be asked to fill in for them by doing stuff like chairing debates. They’re also part of “The Bureau”, which sounds a lot cooler than it is, that being the thing which oversees the rules and admin that keep the parliament running efficiently.
So, certainly the kind of person that could help make the case for Stop Killing Games in debates, but still just one guy that’s part of a wider body currently made up of 720 MEPs in total. If you’re keen to learn more about Ștefănuță, who’s been an MEP since 2019, it’s well worth checking out his profile on the EU Parliament’s website. It includes videos of what he’s said in plenary debates.
For instance, last Wednesday, July 9th, he was discussing lessons that could be taken from Budapest’s recent pride parade amid a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, in terms of the need for anti-discrimination laws and “defending fundamental rights against right-wing attacks”.
We’ll have to see how many other EU politicians opt to get behind Stop Killing Games, but it’s clear MEPs are becoming aware that they need to engage with the issue and work out where they stand.
