Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-01-Speech-4-066"

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"Mr President, I wish, first of all, to congratulate Mrs O'Toole on her pertinent report, on which I should like to say the following: these days it is not only the concept of the book that is changing; the concept of literacy is also changing. Ignorance or a lack of skill in the field of the new technologies and in the field of the written word and knowledge will inevitably lead to new forms of illiteracy with all the human, social, economic and cultural costs that this entails. ( ) This is why the euphoria about the role of the new technologies in the Union’s development and in rapidly combating unemployment that has dominated international meetings, and which reached its apogee at the Lisbon Summit, should at least be sensibly tempered, because the European institutions need to reflect thoroughly on subjects such as those addressed in this report. It is not, however, simply a question of considering issues such as books, electronic publishing, printing on demand and other such matters. In my view, it is crucial that the work of the various parliamentary committees, directorates-general and leaders, at both European and national level, who are involved with these issues, reach a useful and effective form of coordination. It makes no sense to adopt divergent or even perhaps contradictory measures for policies on electronic publishing and books, copyright or e learning. The definition and coordination of guidelines for such policies are increasingly suffering from the fact that there are at least two approaches: the growing support of qualified experts, which gives politicians skills in an area in which they are not generally proficient, and opting for legal provisions that will be able to adapt rapidly to developments in technologies and the markets. In my view, electronic publishing should not be treated as the same as the traditional book with regard to taxation and the application of VAT. It lacks a system of its own and we must therefore bear in mind that the traditional book contains a different set of values and is, by its very nature, a different type of product from the simple digitised file that is an electronic book. Finally we propose that a European Year of the Book and Literacy should be designated and that, every year, 23 April should be declared European Reading Day. These measures would contribute to the fight against illiteracy, to the policy of safeguarding the cultural and linguistic diversity of the European peoples, to the creation of incentives to acquire knowledge and to deepening people’s sense of citizenship. For these reasons they deserve our applause."@en1
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