Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-11-Speech-4-061"
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"en.20100211.4.4-061"2
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"I should like to congratulate Commissioner Barnier on his appointment as Member of the Commission, and also to warmly welcome him here, as there is a great deal on the agenda.
The Services Directive, or ‘Bolkestein Directive’, which was discussed here, expressly excluded gambling. I find this regrettable, as it means we did not dare to recognise that it constitutes a problem for consumers, and I think this was instigated by governments who were only too willing to continue to see it as a monopoly for Member States. The result has been a legislative hotchpotch that is currently leading to a great deal of legal uncertainty. This is regrettable, and behind it is a lack of the courage, including on our part, to look into problems. After all, having a problem but not looking into it is like burying your head in the sand as ostriches do. Yet these are real problems, as the organisations providing gambling services are constantly on the lookout for new openings.
Our current legislation is based on physical borders, but we reached the age of virtual borders long ago. In my opinion, therefore, we must ensure a European approach to online gambling, introduce clearer legislation, involve the providers in this, and ensure that consumers are protected and organised crime precluded. This also means, however, that we must dare to let go of the situation where governments retain a monopoly on the basis of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that ‘monopolies are permitted as long as you conduct a restrictive policy’; this is getting completely out of hand.
The ECJ also states this regularly, and I believe we must have the courage to take hard-law measures that eliminate the excrescences and the abuse of gambling; not only for the benefit of our citizens but also in order to preclude organised crime. I hope this proves successful, Commissioner Barnier: you have a huge task ahead of you and I wish you the very best of luck.
Perhaps – and this is my final comment, Madam President – it is already quite something for you to hearten Parliament by actually looking closer into the implementation of the Services Directive; after all, I have heard many positive reports in this regard."@en1
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