http://www.plooij.nl/nederlands/toespraken/081.htm
A political view of progress toward a Broadband mass market
Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. It is an honour indeed to have the chance to lead off the first working session of today's programme, following Erkki Liikanen's scene-setting opening remarks.
I would even go so far as to say that it is a sign of the times that the views of a member of the European Parliament command such priority and interest from EICTA members and others present here today. Let me therefore first speculate on why that might be.
" First, there is I suspect a widely shared sentiment among you that the issue of mass broadband uptake is of interest to politicians because we see in it first and foremost potential impacts at the broadest levels of European public interest. If so, you are absolutely right.
The prospect of citizens by their hundreds of millions connected to high-speed, high capacity, low-cost, all-the-time internet clearly overhangs on-going political discourse now most central to the future security, prosperity and social cohesion of our continent.
This is most notably - and at the moment, most obviously - the case for the ambitions underlying the Lisbon process, and its vision of competitiveness rooted in human knowledge, infinitely networked through interactive digital communications. How can this vision ever become reality for so long as the enabling digital media have not become truly mass media ? Of course it cannot, which is why the issue of broadband development has found its way to the heart of next week's agenda in Barcelona. In a word, europe's political leaders are well on the way to recognising that mass broadband connection and use is instrumental to our future economic prosperity. Lest you think this a banal observation, let me remind you that even six months ago, this was not the case.
But now even beyond the Lisbon process, there is no doubt in my mind that this political perception of the instrumentality of mass broadband is about to make its appearance in the European Union's constitutional convention, launched last week here in Brussels. How many delegates, from how many different perspectives, took the floor during that first session to underline the fundamental necessity for greater "transparency" and "citizen's involvement" in the future conduct of the institutions of the Union - whatever their modified institutional design turns out to be ? What other practical means can we be talking about for turning these basic principles of democracy into reality on a continental scale, if we are not talking about mass broadband connection and use ?
In other words, politicians in europe increasingly see in the promise of mass broadband a means to some of our most important economic and political ends. But I think we might also usefully contemplate a somewhat more subtle, but even more important, political effect from growing mass broadband connection across our continent, which is very simply to connect europeans to each other. No political system can grow deep democratic roots if it is not ultimately built on a deeper foundation of genuine self-organising, self-perpetuating community. And it is not through intermediation by the institutions of the European Union - no matter how artfully constructed, no matter how democratic - that this deeper foundation of community on a continental scale can be built. That construction, it seems to me, is not only the ultimate political prize we are playing for through mass broadband development - it is the essential political prize for this continent.
" So, having tried to convey to you a sense of the nature and magnitude of the political interest in the subject of today's discussion, let me briefly try to translate that interest into some more practical policy goals and principles which I think you will find underlie the approach of European legislators when considering policy and regulation affecting mass broadband development as we move forward :
+ First, there is far greater political interest in reducing costs to consumers than on increasing the profitability of supply-side industry participants. If that worries many of you here today, it should. There is clearly a gap in our political understanding, perhaps because there is a similar gap in your understanding as well, about the economic model we should be pursuing…or at least the alternative models we have to chose from.
+ Second, there is a clear political bias in Europe for open systems, which basically is understood to mean open standards. Or put the other way, proprietary control of citizens choices and access will be an increasingly difficult political sell if and as connectedness spreads and increasingly provides the medium for individual participation in community and political life.
+ Third, there is similar political support for "technology neutrality", which is understood today in the broadband sphere to mean a level playing field between alternative means to deliver broadband to the home. Therefore the definition of Broadband in terms of speed is a tricky one.
+ Fourth, there is unshakable political support across europe for the concept of cultural identity and specificity - if not quite so uniformly for "cultural exception", when it comes to content.
+ And fifth, there is strong political consensus on the need to prevent the emergence of "digital divisions" in society, be they between rich and poor, e-literate and e-ignorant, urban and rural, and - most fundamentally of course - between the connected and the disconnected.
Chairman, this last point brings me, I think, to a convenient stopping point - and hopefully a helpful jumping off point for our next panellists. How are we going to get people connected - or perhaps more accurately, how are we going to interest them in getting connected ?
It will not have escaped your attention that I have not actually addressed myself to the question which is the title of this session…How far are we on the road to a Broadband mass market ? The short answer, to judge from the data, would appear to be "just getting started". I trust that my remarks will, at the very least, have reinforced your collective determination to "keep going".
Thank you for your attention
http://www.eifonline.org/site/index.cfm?BID=16&SID=1&LG=2&HOMEP=1 For the second year in a row some of the MEP governors of the European Internet Foundation went on a successful fact-finding mission to Washington DC, kindly organised by the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. Highlights included meetings with Senator Patrick Leahy, and Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Rick Boucher.
The mission kicked off with a site visit by some of our MEPs to Microsoft and Boeing in Seattle.
http://www.eifonline.org/site_16/img/dsk_734.jpeg
Monica Ridruejo MEP, Arlene McCarthy MEP, Elly-Plooij-van Gorsel MEP and Roy Perry MEp about to embark on a visit of Boeing's construction facilities.
The European Internet Foundation is led and governed by our Political Members, all of whom are elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). We are independent, not-for-profit and non-partisan. Membership in the European Internet Foundation is open to all current MEPs.
The Foundation is financed primarily through the membership fees of our Business and Associate Members. Our membership includes a core of leading European e-companies, and will be expanded to encompass a broad range of interests and actors in the vanguard of internet-driven change across Europe. Our Membership is open on a progressive, non-discriminatory fee basis to any duly-constituted commercial entity or interest group pledging support for our founding principles.
Cooperation, outreach & dialogue
The Foundation invites active cooperation with other political, academic and governmental institutions and networks, including notably the European Commission. Policy dialogue with the United States political community is assured through the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) . Through this EIF website and via web-based and traditional media, we also correspond more broadly with Europe's citizens on important network society issues and policy developments.
