Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-09-Speech-3-051-000"
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"en.20120509.17.3-051-000"2
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"Mr President, I very much welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate which precedes your vote tomorrow. It goes without saying that I also welcome the fact that this dossier has been brought to a successful conclusion, and I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Ms Niebler as rapporteur.
Further work on completing the single market is a top priority at a time when the EU needs to stimulate growth and create opportunities for employment. That is why the Danish Presidency is investing so much time and energy in the single market and the digital single market, including in key areas such as telecoms and the information society. Services provided by modern electronic means of communication such as mobile devices are now straggling the boundaries between telecommunication and the information society. Web access, mobile applications and the transfer of data and images are increasingly concerns. They are the drivers of those rapid advances in technology which are changing the very way we think about information transfer.
At a time when markets and jobs are increasingly global in scale, it is vital for businesses and consumers to be able to use a full range of services accessible via mobile phones, tablets and other devices, irrespective of their location. They need to be able to access these services when travelling and wherever they are conducting business. It is therefore essential for Europe’s competitiveness that we create as seamless a market as possible for such services. That means improving the conditions for roaming and bringing prices closer to those of the domestic markets.
This is a process that has been under way now for several years. Significant advances have been made through a series of important steps. Today, we have reached the third step, with the Roaming III Regulation. On behalf of the Council, I would like to welcome the agreement reached with Parliament on this important issue. It will help ensure lower prices for roaming customers by introducing greater competition in the roaming market. This is something which is particularly welcome to those in Europe who depend on cross-border information transfer for their businesses and for individual use. It is important that, with close cooperation between the Commission, the Council and Parliament, we have managed to cover all the key elements in the original proposal, including price caps on all the services that are available through roaming.
In our view, the agreement before us respects a set of essential principles, including the need to have an agreed text in place by 1 July of this year: the requirement for the new regulation to be technology-neutral rather than to make technology choices which could soon be out of date; the commitment to ensure that the structural solutions of the new regulations lead to more competition and thus – hopefully – even lower prices for EU citizens in the medium to longer term; the need to continue with a price cap mechanism as a temporary safety mechanism for as long as is necessary for the structural solutions to take effect; and the need to fully involve the body of European regulation for electronic communication in the technical implementation of the regulation and maintain consistency with other relevant legislative or political contexts, such as the regulatory framework for electronic communications or the Digital Agenda for Europe.
Europe’s citizens will be able to take advantage of this new regulation very shortly. It will save them money and increase their access to a wider market. That has to be a positive development. It is a sign that the institutions of the European Union are working for the direct benefit of our citizens.
By way of conclusion, I would like to thank both Parliament and the Commission for the excellent cooperation during negotiations. I would like to express our gratitude to the Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the rapporteur, Ms Niebler, and the shadow rapporteurs for the excellent way in which they have handled these important negotiations.
Tomorrow, this Parliament will vote on the regulation. If endorsed, it will bring direct benefits to Europeans. It is an important step which will ensure that consumers will enjoy even lower roaming prices, while, at the same time, it will stimulate much needed competition in the area and thus increase Europe’s competitiveness and encourage growth. This is what Europe needs: concrete results for the benefit of our citizens, creating growth and jobs."@en1
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