Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-05-Speech-2-008"
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"en.20090505.3.2-008"2
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"Madam President, it is a privilege this morning to be opening this most important debate and inviting our colleagues to support the reform to the telecom package that we have on the table.
I emphasise that it is a reform. As you heard, four rapporteurs have been working on elements of it. On the key reform of the package, I want to pay tribute to my colleagues, Catherine Trautmann and Pilar del Castillo Vera, because we have worked very closely together to bring that package together.
It is an important reform because the existing package that I worked on with colleagues back in 2001 and 2002 has worked very well for the European economy. We have a thriving and dynamic communications sector with active consumers in the marketplace. But this reform brings that up to date and my colleagues will explain the areas that they want to work on. The most important thing is that it makes the package robust for the next decade. There are substantial improvements that Parliament has made in this second reading.
I would like to place on record, on behalf of the three of us, our thanks to the French Presidency for bringing us a common position in November which has enabled us to bring this improved package to you today in the last session of this mandate, because it is vital for European consumers and the European economy that we give this a ringing endorsement in our vote tomorrow.
As always with these complex issues, I have had tremendous cooperation from my own shadow team – Bernadette Vergnaud, Cristian Buşoi and Heide Rühle. I also want to thank the team from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, led by Alexander Alvaro, because an important element of my reforms includes the E-Privacy Directive, which they have handled.
In my four minutes this morning, I do not have time to go through all the points and all the improvements that we have made in great detail. There will be plenty of briefing about that afterwards. I just want to give you a sense of what we have achieved and what we are looking for.
In this directive we have significantly improved the rights of consumers and users in the electronic space. Consumers need to be empowered to make choices between the communication services on offer and, to do that, they are entitled to information. They are entitled to fair contract terms and conditions that do not tie them for long periods to particular providers. They are entitled to a high-quality emergency service, to access to social information services over the Internet and voice telephonic communication. Above all, they are entitled to have their data in the electronic communications space protected. We will hear more about that later. We also need to empower regulators to ensure that those entitlements are properly delivered. All of those are included in this proposal.
I think it is very important to emphasise that this is an enabling and empowering proposal. It is not a proposal that is any way restrictive of people’s rights on the Internet or restrictive of services at all. We want to give consumers that power to make choices and that is what will open services.
I just want to conclude my first speech by saying this: there have been a huge number of people working on this proposal and we have had tremendous resources behind us. I want to particularly mention Peter Traung from the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Luca Vusaggio, our legal adviser, and Lindsay Gilbert from our group, who have all worked closely together with my assistant Sheena Gooroochurn. We have had great support from the Commission, from Peter Rodford, the Commissioner herself and her team, and also from the Council Secretariat led by Eva Veivo. I mention that because I think many people outside do not realise the extent and engagement that we have in delivering these complex texts. I look forward to your support for this tomorrow because it is so important for all our futures."@en1
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