Steve mentioned this to me the other day: "The EU Software Patent Directive has been or will be scheduled on the agenda of the Agriculture and Fishery Meeting of the 24th of January as an A item, i.e. an item that is to be adopted without a vote."

I don't know much about the workings of the EU, but it strikes me that asking an Agriculture and Fishery Meeting to rule on intellectual property for software isn't totally appropriate.