Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-22-Speech-3-154"
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"en.20050622.18.3-154"2
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".
Mr President, my report deals with the World Summit on the Information Society, a process initiated by the United Nations. The first phase took place in Geneva in 2003 and concluded with the adoption of a declaration of principles and a plan of action. The second phase, which will take place in Tunis this November, will focus on the implementation of the plan and on two unresolved issues, namely financing the plan of action and governance of the Internet. The European Union has engaged in this process with a coordinated position and considerable authority, because it can speak with one voice. If my fellow Members adopt this resolution, our Parliament will underpin the position of the Union and signal its commitment to the success of the process.
Information and communication technology, ICT, plays an integral part in the pursuit of the Millennium Goals, which are all about the elimination of poverty. The war on poverty focuses on material necessities but it also involves access to online services, whether these be educational, health-related, administrative or commercial. The rise of the Internet and of mobile telephony has created new potential for development, competitiveness and growth. Europe suffers from four dimensions of the digital divide: geographical, social, economic and cultural. This divide is even deeper in the least-developed countries, or LDCs, which have neither an adequate infrastructure nor the means to provide mass access to these forms of technology.
The first issue to emphasise is the contribution of ICT to democracy. It is an essential means of reducing inequality and promoting human dignity as well as of guaranteeing freedom of expression and information, pluralism of opinion and popular involvement in decision-making processes. It is imperative that these human rights be respected in the information society. The concern of the World Summit to ensure that a better regulatory framework, an appropriate system of governance, is created to avert the risks and aberrations that might jeopardise the security and integrity of individuals, organisations and even governments, cannot justify failure to respect these rights. Cultural and linguistic diversity should be one of the driving forces of the progress initiated by the World Summit. Such diversity is easier to achieve in a democratic context, and our Parliament has a duty to point this out to Tunisia, which will be hosting the summit.
The second issue is the need for a new form of partnership with the countries of the South. These countries require confidence and the prospect of long-term stability before they can act. Cancelling the debt of the poorest countries is a good thing as long as it does not reduce their access to funding. Merely substituting donations for access to lending facilities would be ineffective. The European Union did not want a new fund to be created at the United Nations for the purpose of encouraging cooperative ventures, since it would entail the mobilisation of the existing funds allocated to our own development programmes, to the framework programme for research and development and to the Competitiveness and Innovation programme. In the same vein, I have suggested that unused development appropriations be allocated to the plan of action.
The creation of the Digital Solidarity Fund on a voluntary basis is to be welcomed, but the Fund remains a complementary instrument. The Union should give preference to multipartite initiatives involving national governments, the private sector, local and/or regional authorities and NGOs. People using ICT should be involved as users and players, thereby helping to ensure that ICT-based services promote the quality of life, the development of entrepreneurial activity and the production of content with due respect for local cultures and local know-how. Multipartite ventures are an indicator of confidence and mobilisation. Before our representatives leave for Tunis, incidentally, our Parliament will meet interested parties from civil society in order to establish a durable working relationship.
In conclusion, let me say that the key aim is the promotion of fair and sustainable development. This is the essence of our vision of an inclusive information society. It is for this reason that I should like the timetables for the Lisbon and i2010 strategies to be linked to the plan of action and the involvement of the European Union to be considered in terms of shared development and shared responsibility. Our partners, like ourselves, should be assured of a voice in the system of governance and of the preservation of their sovereign decision-making powers. Whether in the field of health care, prevention, environmental risks, waste management or conservation of resources, we are interdependent. European growth is inconceivable without solidarity."@en1
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