Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-18-Speech-1-082"
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"en.20070618.14.1-082"2
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"Mr President, first of all I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on a very comprehensive report.
I agree with the rapporteur that the Union’s task is not to finance the deployment of broadband. That is indeed the task of the market. However, I also agree with Commissioner Kroes’s statement that the Commission can, in certain circumstances, allow state aid if it is clear that market forces will not or cannot fill the high-speed communications gap. ‘White areas’ – i.e. areas which are rural, underpopulated and commercially unattractive to broadband providers – must be part of the interconnection that we all speak of today.
Ireland, with approximately one-third of its population living in rural areas, has poor broadband penetration. This matter needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency and state aid may well need to be part of the package.
Rural areas throughout the EU must be part of the broadband revolution, otherwise areas already lagging behind will fall further behind and we will be unable to achieve a balance of development between the regions. As the rapporteur himself put it, we need growth with cohesion."@en1
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