Germany's government does not want to take a stance at present – which is greeted with jubilation by the opponents who accuse the proposal of entailing too much scrutiny of private e-mail and chat messages.
"A fantastic victory for freedom and shows that protests work", writes former EU parliament member Patrick Breyer from the German Pirate Party in a press release.
That Germany does not say yes means that the proposal, which by critics has been given the nickname "chat control", is not expected to reach a sufficient majority next week when the latest compromise is to be discussed by the EU countries' justice and home affairs ministers.
The issue is being discussed at the ambassador level in Brussels on Wednesday.
