Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-17-Speech-1-110"
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"en.20031117.8.1-110"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to thank Mrs Read for her reports on eTEN and IDABC, which strongly support these programmes. Mrs Read has been very committed over the years to the IDA Programme. The Commission would strongly support a vote in favour of these reports.
Considering that the Council is expected to reach a political agreement on the IDABC Programme on Thursday, the Commission hopes that the very good cooperation with Mrs Read and the European Parliament will allow a second reading and final adoption before the parliamentary elections.
Let me turn now to the third element of our debate today, which relates to the implementation of the telecom regulatory framework.
I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Clegg, for the thorough job he has done, and Parliament for its interest in the Eighth Report. I particularly welcome your involvement in the ongoing issues of the transposition and implementation of the new regulatory framework in the Member States.
Eight countries have now succeeded in adopting legislation: Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The Commission has opened infringement proceedings against those Member States that have failed to notify measures. We will pursue these proceedings vigorously.
At the Council on Thursday, I will be urging those Member States that have not yet transposed to make renewed efforts to complete the task with the minimum of further delay.
In addition, in a few days the Commission will adopt the Ninth Implementation Report, addressed to Parliament and Council, which sets out in more detail the state of play of transposition as at 1 November.
As far as the situation in the electronic communications market is concerned, the report will identify some encouraging signs on the market after the difficult financial conditions of last year.
The number of mobile subscribers is anticipated to grow at a greater rate than in 2002, despite the high penetration rates already achieved.
Even if competition in the broadband market is still weak, the number of fixed broadband lines increased by nearly 80% in the year to October 2003. Unbundling, in particular, has developed significantly, with over 1 million new unbundled lines between October 2002 and October 2003.
Let me start with the eTEN programme, which was formerly known as TEN Telecom. This programme will play a key role in achieving the objectives of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.
Some of the key issues we are examining in our assessment of transposition measures include the role of national regulatory authorities, and the putting in place of measures to avoid over-regulation.
Accession countries will need to adapt their laws to comply with the new framework by May 2004. Parliament is being kept fully informed by way of the recent Comprehensive Monitoring Reports, which contained a chapter on the telecommunications sector.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and to assist the authorities in accession countries. The situation regarding transposition and implementation there will be fully covered in the 2004 report.
In conclusion, with renewed effort by all Member States to complete the process of transposition and market review in the coming months, we believe we can do our share of the work to help the market stabilise further and to maintain its growth, so that consumers can continue to benefit from competitive prices and the development of broadband services.
The programme has been reoriented to the objectives of eEurope 2005. The focus has been fixed on services in the areas of eGovernment, eHealth and eLearning.
The programme has shown, through a number of validation projects, that there is high potential for the deployment of such services. However, the current 10% limit of Community financial support has proved insufficient to overcome the barriers to deployment at a trans-European level.
The Commission has proposed raising the maximum level to 30%, since both research and experience in other programmes show that this is the level needed to encourage deployment successfully.
However, as a former budget Commissioner, I should like to reiterate that the budget for the programme will nevertheless remain unchanged. The funding will concentrate on fewer but more focussed projects, thereby making the programme more effective.
The scope of the new IDABC Programme will be broader than that of the present programmes. IDABC provides a more comprehensive coverage of pan-European eGovernment services. The benefits resulting from the cooperation between public administrations across Europe extend to citizens and businesses.
IDABC supports, initiates and manages the delivery of pan-European eGovernment services with a view to giving business and citizens easy access to cross-border information and transactions.
The Commission fully supports the report of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy as submitted to the plenary session today. The Commission can accept Amendments 1 to 5."@en1
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