For more on the EU Councils approval of the software patent directive, se this article: Council sends a mockery of a CP to the EP
One interesting tidbit from the article: 'Danish minister of economic affairs Bendt Bendtsen explained that Denmark would have preferred for the position to be renegotiated but that he was "not going to stand in the way of the formal adoption" and instead decided to attach a written declaration to the Common Position. The EU Affairs Committee of the Danish parliament had instructed him on Friday to demand a renegotiation of the controversial position.'
This means the Danish minister apparently decided to ignore parliament... Where have we heard that one before? Oh, yes, that's right, the Dutch minister did the same last year.
It seems the Council have decided that the only way to get it's work done is for it's members to blatantly ignore their respective parliaments and do whatever they feel like. The level of arrogance that represents from an organization consisting of unelected representatives of governments that in many cases does not even have majority support in their respective parliaments is staggering.