Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-09-Speech-1-202"
Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
---|---|
rdf:type | |
dcterms:Date | |
dcterms:Is Part Of | |
dcterms:Language | |
lpv:document identification number |
"en.20090309.22.1-202"2
|
lpv:hasSubsequent | |
lpv:speaker | |
lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, Mrs Schaldemose, the Commission welcomes this own-initiative report from the European Parliament. It praises the work undertaken by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and by you, Mrs Schaldemose, as its rapporteur, and it welcomes, in particular, the research into the issues of integrity.
As my colleague, Mr McCreevy, stressed in his previous speeches, the approaches currently used in the Member States are too different to allow a legislative initiative. The latest discussions in the Competitiveness Council have clearly shown that the Member States would not reach agreement on such an initiative.
Moreover, the treaty offers some guiding principles. A judgement from the Court, the Placanica verdict, delivered in March 2007, has very recently confirmed that sports betting activities do constitute services in the meaning of Article 49 of the Treaty. The Member States have the right to legislate on gaming at a national level. If they wish to limit gaming activities, it is up to them to carry out the research to justify these restrictions, for example, in relation to addiction or fraud.
When it is proven that these measures are necessary, the treaty requires that they be taken in a way that does not discriminate between national operators and operators based in other Member States.
The Commission intends to fulfil its duty by investigating any complaint submitted to it and will introduce any procedures needed if it is shown that the treaty has been infringed.
It is encouraging to note that, following the application of infringement procedures, some Member States, including France, Hungary and Italy, have been brought closer to the Commission and have committed to changing their legislation. The Commission is working, of course, to help the Member States find solutions to respond to the infringement procedures.
The Commission has published research into the legal and economic aspects of the gambling market in 2006. In these conditions, the Commission feels that there is no current need to play a bigger role in producing research into national legislation nor into wider issues such as addictions, fraud or other reprehensible activities. However, this report provides some particularly useful clarifications."@en1
|
lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples