Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-21-Speech-1-174"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2005-02-21"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:State aid in the form of public service compensation2
dcterms:Language	"de"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20050221.17.1-174"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2005-02-21-Speech-1-1752
lpv:speaker	lp:Wolf Klinz2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 substitute; ITRE (2004-07-22--2006-07-04)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 unknown; Freie Demokratische Partei - Die Liberalen (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council (2004-09-15--2007-03-13)3 member; ALDE (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 member; ECON (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to start by thanking the rapporteur for her outstanding work, as she has brought a great deal of expertise and enthusiasm to bear on an extremely complex issue, and has presented a very lucid report. We in the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe regard it as self-evident that the public sector must safeguard the provision of certain services. There is a need, though, for great care to be exercised when using taxpayers’ money, and it must be used only in cases where it provides consumers with genuine added value. It is for that reason that clear rules are needed. In principle we welcome the Commission’s attempts to lay down a framework to make sure that funds are used in a transparent, objective and easy-to-understand way. What we want is a solution that ensures that competition is effective and that the rules on services of general interest are not used to distort competition. Completion of the internal market must not be slowed down by an unchecked and indiscriminate distribution of State aid. What we want is quite the opposite, namely to lend our support to a solution that makes it possible to achieve a number of goals. These include the drawing up by the Member States of a definition of services of general interest; even if these definitions are not identical, they will be comparable, and we do not regard this as violating the principle of subsidiarity. In addition, State aid must be used in a targeted and focused manner in instances where it helps to safeguard the future, with its future use being somewhat more restricted than has been the case to date, and the rules on such aid must not interfere with the further implementation of the internal market. We are opposed to the prevention of a possible liberalisation of services of general interest by means of derogations to the directive on services, such as has been attempted by the Federal Minister for the Economy in Germany. Finally, I should like to call on the Commission to provide further explanatory documents to ensure that the rules are made easier to apply. It should develop benchmarks and examples of best practice as points of reference, for the best practice approach can act as a source of good ideas, derived from other Member States’ successes."@en1

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