Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-05-Speech-3-623"
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"en.20100505.80.3-623"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the report which we are debating this evening and on which we shall vote tomorrow is part of a major effort to implement the 20/20/20 package, which I believe is still one of the most far-sighted and significant things to have come out of the last European parliamentary term. If asked what I would save from the last five years, I would definitely place the 20/20/20 package at the top of the list.
I believe that it is important to add that some very intense work went into this report, on the part of both the European Commission – a communication and a recommendation preceded this report – and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and others. They enriched the initial report and our work with many suggestions, additions and amendments.
I believe that there is still a slight difference of opinion within Parliament over one point, and I hope that it can be overcome with tomorrow’s vote. It concerns the more or less binding nature that we wish to attribute to the contents of this report, which I would like to make a point of saying was drafted in a context of great understanding and great unanimity.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent an important sector, not least, in fact, because of the weight they carry in the European economy: they account for 7% of the labour force – of the European labour force – and 6% of GDP, thus a significant share of the European economy and of the European productive and labour force too.
They are also very important not only, precisely, for what they represent, but also for the contribution they can make and for the essential, significant role that they can play in terms of trying to achieve this transition from our economy to a situation in which the economy, though still developed, produces fewer emissions and has a lower carbon content and will thus pollute less for our future and for that of the generations to come. In short, they can represent – not in words, but in concrete actions – changes that can lead to a way of producing, living, travelling and consuming in our society, and to that industrial revolution that, for many, will actually characterise the future of social and economic life, not only on our continent but throughout the entire world.
How can ICTs make this major contribution to transforming our economy? Firstly, by changing the sector itself: the report is intended to demonstrate how this sector can, first and foremost, look within itself to see how it can produce communication, microelectronic and other instruments that consume less energy, and are thus inherently more efficient.
Next, they can make an enormous contribution in the major sectors, in the housing and transport sectors. The latter two – I am quoting data from the Commission – are sectors in which greater efficiency, according to the European rules and the targets also laid down by the 20/20/20 package, can lead to a very substantial reduction in these emissions – since, today, the transport sector consumes 26% of the energy in Europe, and 40% is consumed in homes for heating and cooling, depending on the season – and can achieve very high levels of efficiency.
This is without mentioning that the scope, in the case of the major sectors, affects our lives in very significant areas. I am thinking of the entire banking sector, of the relationships within public administration, of the entire
government sector and of all the services, in short, which, with the application of these technologies, will be able not only to reduce their carbon emissions but also to save time, with a consequent improvement in the quality of life of Europeans and in the quality of social life.
This is, therefore, highly significant. However, I believe that this report will be all the more significant if Parliament approves its binding character tomorrow. I would like to offer just two examples, Mr President, if I may: smart meters and the smart grid, and smart cities
Only yesterday, 700 European mayors concluded a new agreement in this House, before our President and the European Commissioner, aimed precisely at improving the efficiency of cities, which are home to more than 70% of European citizens and which can thus make a major contribution to increasing efficiency and economic and social development."@en1
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