Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-18-Speech-4-037"
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"en.20031218.2.4-037"2
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"Mr President, like Mr Harbour I would like to thank the Commission for such a positive input into the world summit, and also Mr Harbour himself for pursuing this issue so doggedly.
This is an extremely important initiative that goes right to the very heart of the societal change that is engulfing our world at the moment. This is because technological change comes with something else: it comes with a huge transformation in the values and norms of our society and a huge transformation of our global economy. Therefore the way in which we deal with this issue politically is of vital importance.
The vast array of opportunities and threats raised by the information age are too various to mention in my three minutes so I shall draw some examples from my own constituency in the north-east of England. My own region has turned itself around in the last 30 years. It was once on the scrap heap of the Industrial Revolution and it is now poised to take advantage of the information age we are so speedily, but ambiguously, chasing. This age requires sound infrastructure, sound technical capacity, knowledge and content. Yet regions in our Union such as my own, let alone regions of developing countries, could be adversely affected or simply miss out on the benefits of the information age because these benefits are so unevenly distributed.
Because my region is seriously disadvantaged in educational terms and because our infrastructure is not yet up to the task, there is a huge way to go for us in order to be able to benefit from it enormously. I welcome both the summit and the action plan as a wake-up call to our governments. Universal access, widespread development of broadband and skilled development are fundamental to successful transition. But we must be aware that, while it is correct to have global aspirations, we have serious work to do in our own back yard. If we are all to participate in this particular game, we must create an even playing field."@en1
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