Mr President, the report begins by welcoming the Commission’s communication, seeking, first and foremost, to take full advantage of the last few years’ experience of the Internet, and hence of self-government through ICANN and its bodies. As well as experience of self-government, there has also been experience of self-regulation, which certainly represents an excellent example of the role the Internet has been able to play in the progress of communications and the world economy over the last few years. Even the criticism in the original outline of the report, on the need for all five continents to be represented on the governing body or on the ICANN board of directors, no longer applies, because at the very moment the initial draft appeared, the representative of the African continent was taking his seat on the ICANN board. That is why an amendment has been tabled to paragraph 6 and a split vote is requested on paragraph 7, as part of it is now superfluous. The report expresses our full support as regards the role the European Commission can play in terms of organisation and management of the Internet, representing all the Member States of the Union. However, it also makes the clear recommendation that this should never take the form of interference by political authorities or, worse still, by the Commission and the European Union bureaucracies in the Internet’s governing and operational bodies, precisely because its positive experience of self-government and self-regulation must be fully respected. Rather, the Commission is called upon to work alongside the US Government. In recent years, the US Department of Commerce has given substantial backing and encouragement to the process of ICANN’s progressive independence from the US Government. We therefore urge the Commission to cooperate with these positive tactics by the US Government in order to carry this process of independence and autonomy of the Internet and its governing bodies right through to a conclusion. The key problem facing Europe, which must, of course, be dealt with by the competent party, is how to close the gap behind the United States in this sector and other more advanced parts of the world. We therefore fully support the proposal to create the EU domain in the sector and we recommend homogeneous standards at European level on registration, protection of domain names and action to combat fraud, cybersquatting, and so on. A homogeneous European market is no small aspiration, even for the Internet, but I think it is one of the essential conditions to guarantee development and attract investment, including investment in infrastructure which is still in deficit on the continent of Europe. In fact, we can only have a market large enough to be competitive with North America if we have a homogeneous market. Finally – the last point made in the report – the process of telecommunications liberalisation needs to be accelerated and completed because that is obviously closely linked to the future and the progress of the Internet on the continent of Europe. I do not think it is necessary to say anything further on that because the Commission and Parliament have done a great deal of work in that direction in the last few months. I not only want to acknowledge the excellent work Commissioner Liikanen is carrying out in this field. I also want to express total faith and confidence in his and the Commission’s will to bring the process to a conclusion with consistency and determination, because it will constitute another decisive thrust not only for the development of telecommunications on the continent of Europe but also for the organisation, operational stability and development of the Internet in our Member States.

Political group: PSE