Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-11-Speech-4-033"
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"en.20100211.4.4-033"2
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"Mr President, I speak as a former Minister in the UK responsible for gambling controls, so, when we talk about a Europe of free trade and a Europe that opposes protectionism, a Europe which opens markets and tears down trade barriers, of course I am very much in favour of that. Some of our colleagues, who stand up here and call for a more open Europe, are also the same people who are supporting the maintenance of monopoly structures for the gambling industry.
I might say that monopolies – or they might say I should say – that monopolies are better at controlling and treating the problem of gambling which has been discussed this morning. That is very interesting, because a lot of the data certainly does not support that argument. The arguments for protectionism and monopolies in the gambling sector are self-serving; more control and then more money for national governments. This is not the open Europe or the transparent Europe that I want. It is the Europe which says, ‘do as I say, not as I do’. There is no reason why private gambling providers operating under high levels of regulated protection in one EU Member State should not be allowed to operate in others. There is no reason why a tightly regulated but open market will not provide an equivalent, if not a higher, level of protection to citizens as any tightly controlled state monopoly.
As we wait for that, the European Court of Justice’s verdicts continue to roll out. They must be getting a bit sick of the issue in Luxembourg – or, speaking as a lawyer, perhaps they are not quite so sick of it – but above the deafening silence that has come from the Commission so far, it does seem to me that it is now time for action. The degree of legal uncertainty must be ended.
Can I just say that I think it is important for Parliament to signal its renewed willingness to tackle the issue and to send a strong signal to the Council and Commission that we should not hide away from this. With a new Commission we do hope for new impetus. I have great faith in you, Commissioner Barnier. I hope that you will note the advice that you receive and begin to work out a strategy to ensure that online gambling can become a legitimate part of the internal market with, of course, appropriate regulations in place."@en1
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