One of the Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, Nicolae Ștefănuță, publicly voiced his support for Stop Killing Games in a major win for the newly-minted EU Citizens’ Initiative. On July 12, Ștefănuță posted a video on his Instagram story announcing that he had signed the Stop Killing Games petition and plans to continue helping the movement.
Ștefănuță said in the video, “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.”
While Ștefănuță can only do so much for the Stop Killing Games movement at the moment, his support could be crucial if (or, rather, when) Stop Killing Games reaches the Parliament floor.
As a member of the European Parliament, Ștefănuță will be able to help make the case for Stop Killing Games if it comes to a debate. Other EU politicians who may not have been paying attention to Stop Killing Games before will certainly have to take notice of it now, too.
While the road from Citizens’ Initiative to actual legislation is long, and not necessarily guaranteed, Stop Killing Games is off to a good start with a lot of momentum behind it.
It has already cleared the 1 million minimum signatures required to become an official Citizens’ Initiative, but still needs to meet minimum thresholds for some EU nations. After hitting those minimums, it will need to go through the process of verifying all those signatures before getting a meeting with the European Commission.
Ștefănuță’s words of support come just a week after lobbying group Video Games Europe released a disappointing statement opposing Stop Killing Games and defending the practices the movement is trying to put an end to. Video Games Europe may not be listening to what actual gamers have to say, but Ștefănuță is clearly paying attention and will hopefully be a strong advocate for Stop Killing Games as it works its way up to the European Parliament.