3 ms·

Why do I have to play the one-armed bandit until I possibly reach one of the 19 MEPs from my home country Austria?

by ginko 13y ago

mherrmann 13y ago
Try Paul Rübig's office: +33388175749. I have been in touch with his assistant Ms Barbaro there, which is responsible for the net neutrality issue. Here is the letter I sent them regarding the issue (German): https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wmn08zsxwftspw/Brief.pdf https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wmn08zsxwftspw/Brief.pdf
- mherrmann 13y ago
  (Paul Rübig is an Austrian MEP)
Fuxy 13y ago
No idea having them on the website is a nice change though. I always had a problem finding someone to email playing Russian roulette until i find one is slightly easier.
- Shish2k 13y ago
  > playing Russian roulette until i find one Well, you've certainly found the most badass way to get in contact with a politician -- not sure how effective it is over the long term though...
sentenza 13y ago
They explained the algorithm in a recent episode of Logbuch Netzpolitik [1]. They weighted all MEPs according to their current stance on the issue, so you're more likely to get the contact info of an opponent of net neutrality than a proponent. Nonetheless, I also find it slightly frustrating that they didn't include country-matching or at least a language preference setting. After all, the MEP might be more inclined to listen to me if I'm one of their constituents (or if I am at least able to communicate with them). [1] http://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp094-internet-zero http://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp094-internet-zero
- Silhouette 13y ago
  After all, the MEP might be more inclined to listen to me if I'm one of their constituents (or if I am at least able to communicate with them). This is something I don't quite understand at EU level. In the UK, there is a convention that MPs only act for and respond to their own constituents. Randomly e-mailing the MP for somewhere else is extremely unlikely to achieve anything useful at all. I don't know whether the European Parliament has a similar convention, but even if not, it's hard to see why a random MEP is -- or should be -- swayed in their position by representations from anyone other than the voters to whom they are responsible. I don't understand why anyone would ever advocate lobbying anyone but their own representatives. Does this actually achieve anything at EU level?
seszett 13y ago
It's a bit frustrating, I clicked 20+ times (or at least it felt like 20+ times) the "get another MEP" button until I could find a French guy (sorry, it might be the EU but I'm not calling a Polish or Greek MEP and hope we can understand each other) and... when a French flag appeared I still had the reflex to click the button again. And it happened a second time, and then I quit.
rvanmil 13y ago
You can easily find all of them over here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html There's an email button on their profile pages.
glomph 13y ago
In the UK we have https://www.writetothem.com/ https://www.writetothem.com/ which allows you to easily contact your own MPS/MEPS. I guess it is a shame it isn't more widely available.
pbhjpbhj 13y ago
On the Pi-Phone website - linked in the "call an MEP" widgets - you can choose the country: http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov_13#mep http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov...

Why do I have to play the one-armed bandit until I possibly reach one of the 19 MEPs from my home country Austria?

by ginko 13y ago

Why do I have to play the one-armed bandit until I possibly reach one of the 19 MEPs from my home country Austria?

Try Paul Rübig's office: +33388175749. I have been in touch with his assistant Ms Barbaro there, which is responsible for the net neutrality issue. Here is the letter I sent them regarding the issue (German): https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wmn08zsxwftspw/Brief.pdf https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wmn08zsxwftspw/Brief.pdf

mherrmann 13y ago
(Paul Rübig is an Austrian MEP)

Fuxy 13y ago

No idea having them on the website is a nice change though. I always had a problem finding someone to email playing Russian roulette until i find one is slightly easier.

Shish2k 13y ago
> playing Russian roulette until i find one Well, you've certainly found the most badass way to get in contact with a politician -- not sure how effective it is over the long term though...

sentenza 13y ago

They explained the algorithm in a recent episode of Logbuch Netzpolitik [1]. They weighted all MEPs according to their current stance on the issue, so you're more likely to get the contact info of an opponent of net neutrality than a proponent. Nonetheless, I also find it slightly frustrating that they didn't include country-matching or at least a language preference setting. After all, the MEP might be more inclined to listen to me if I'm one of their constituents (or if I am at least able to communicate with them). [1] http://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp094-internet-zero http://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp094-internet-zero

Silhouette 13y ago
After all, the MEP might be more inclined to listen to me if I'm one of their constituents (or if I am at least able to communicate with them). This is something I don't quite understand at EU level. In the UK, there is a convention that MPs only act for and respond to their own constituents. Randomly e-mailing the MP for somewhere else is extremely unlikely to achieve anything useful at all. I don't know whether the European Parliament has a similar convention, but even if not, it's hard to see why a random MEP is -- or should be -- swayed in their position by representations from anyone other than the voters to whom they are responsible. I don't understand why anyone would ever advocate lobbying anyone but their own representatives. Does this actually achieve anything at EU level?

seszett 13y ago

It's a bit frustrating, I clicked 20+ times (or at least it felt like 20+ times) the "get another MEP" button until I could find a French guy (sorry, it might be the EU but I'm not calling a Polish or Greek MEP and hope we can understand each other) and... when a French flag appeared I still had the reflex to click the button again. And it happened a second time, and then I quit.

rvanmil 13y ago

You can easily find all of them over here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html There's an email button on their profile pages.

glomph 13y ago

In the UK we have https://www.writetothem.com/ https://www.writetothem.com/ which allows you to easily contact your own MPS/MEPS. I guess it is a shame it isn't more widely available.

pbhjpbhj 13y ago

On the Pi-Phone website - linked in the "call an MEP" widgets - you can choose the country: http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov_13#mep http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov...