Mr President, I would like to start by thanking those I have worked alongside. A rapporteur without such sound qualitative input is only a small cog in a big machine. We have been able to establish a sound dialogue, which is what is important at the end of the day. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the Commission, especially Commissioner Liikanen, for the sound cooperation and meaningful debates which we held, but more than anything, I am grateful to him for his willingness to take into account the debate and vote on this report in the publication of the new directives. Mr President, five years ago, it was totally inconceivable that today, we would be talking about competition in the field of services but also, above all, competition in the field of infrastructure within Europe. This is completely new. If we close our eyes and think ahead about what is going to happen in the next five years, then this is an enormous development. This also means – and that is my second point – that you have to think very clearly about what to legislate for at the moment within the European Union in order to promote this convergence process which is moving at the speed of light. I think that the point of departure should be that we decide, if at all possible, in favour of full competition and that, based on full competition, we identify what we still need now in terms of sector-specific regulation. There will, of course, always be sector-specific regulation, but eventually, we need to move in the direction of competition as a guiding principle. I therefore think that the Commission was right – and my report has hopefully contributed to this – in opting in favour of fine-tuning the – to my mind – more rigid model which was used by the Commission in the first instance, the so-called ‘significant market power and dominant position’. I honestly hope that the Commission will move further in the direction we have proposed. The markets are moving extremely fast. The developments transcend national borders. We are witnessing all kinds of vertical and horizontal integrations. We can see inter-sectoral movement, which means that, each time, we need to examine one particular sector within the market. Mr President, my third point is that you also need to consider the supervisory structures which are in place. It will, of course, not be the case that in five years’ time, we will still have 15 telecom/ICT markets in Europe. As far as this is concerned, we will need to grow towards one European internal market. This also means that I can see two developments in this field, which cause me some concern. One is that national supervisory bodies are still working in isolation and my report offers an enormous boost to these bodies to link up, merge or integrate with the general national competition authorities and, where necessary, with media supervisory bodies. We also need to ask ourselves how long we need to continue the specific sector supervision. It is, of course, excellent to have a High Level Group, but the main drawback of having such a group is that, because of its huge significance, it is extremely difficult to sideline. I therefore hope in this respect that by means of sunset and horizon clauses, we will be able to do something about limiting the time during which these groups are active. Mr President, it is of utmost importance to the citizen for prices to become much more transparent and the cost of roaming to drop, and for the citizen to gain an insight into how this mechanism works. The citizen would also very much welcome number portability, as would the mobile sector, so as to empower the consumer, and I think we should fight for this. Mr President, auctions should also come under close scrutiny. Currently, auction prices far outstrip the actual administrative costs, and I am therefore very curious as to whether the Commissioner would like to answer my urgent written questions at this stage, namely to what extent the forthcoming auctions in the United Kingdom and other Member States comply with Article 11 of a Licensing Directive which explicitly states that only administrative costs should be covered. Mr President, another important point is 112, caller location. If something happens to me, it should be possible to trace me immediately. This is why this caller location facility is so vital. But it is also important to combat the abuse of 112. In addition, it is also of great importance, in my view, certainly in the case of third-generation mobiles, to offer the caller location facility. This does mean, however, that the user should grant permission to set this up. Mr President, a serious problem is the democratic hole within the entire ICT sector. Once we have completed 5 or 6 directives in the foreseeable future, we as European Parliament will have outlived our mandate in this field. At the same time, the Commission will carry on with the CoCom (Communications Committee), the Council delegation. In my report, I expressly call for an EP working party which is authorised by Parliament to negotiate with the Commission on the same terms as the CoCom. Mr President, surely it should not be the case that Parliament could be sidelined in this day and age. I therefore make an urgent appeal to Parliament, but also to the Commission, to plug this democratic hole which currently exists in the way I have just described. Mr President, we have now reached the stage where at the end of this month, the European Commission will produce the directives. I have thanked the Commissioner. I also hope that the Commissioner is able and willing to take into account the outcome of this debate in the forthcoming directives, because that is what it is all about at the end of the day. That is democracy. IN THE CHAIR: MR J. PACHECO PEREIRAVice-President

Political group: PPE-DE