Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-16-Speech-4-114"
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"en.19991216.3.4-114"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank all those who took part in this debate, which I found worthwhile both from a political and a cultural point of view. I would like to assure the participants in the debate that the Commission, and myself personally, attach a lot of importance, as you do, to culture and books, and we recognise the cultural importance of books and are ready to take into account these specific features. Mr Karas mentioned that I have already stated that I wish competition policy to be an element of the social market economy: I confirm this and ask you all not to consider competition as an abstract concept and the citizens’ enemy.
Competition is the main ally of individual citizens. Competition’s main aim is to safeguard consumer interests from the point of view both of prices and quality, as well as to safeguard small and medium-sized businesses against the excesses of large businesses, in many cases. For this reason, just as I am prepared to give full recognition to the importance of culture, I am asking you not to become intellectual victims of an approach whereby competition is not a major ally of citizens. The task of competition is to combat cartels, the abuse of dominant positions and mergers, and to create more possibilities for economic freedom, and we know that economic freedom is often accompanied by civil freedom too, as shown by the past experience of countries which did not have economic freedom. I therefore believe that there is room for a harmonious interaction between cultural policy and competition policy, without creating futile and forced counter-stances."@en1
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