Niccolò Rinaldi, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – (IT) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in November 2010, many of us asked the Commission to wait before signing the agreement and present an impact assessment first. The Commission decided to go ahead and sign straight away, assuring us that everything was fine, only to subsequently turn to the Court of Justice and receive a worrying warning from the EU privacy supervisor.

Meanwhile, citizens in the EU mobilised in an unprecedented way, with 2.8 million signatures, whilst many entrepreneurs have reacted cautiously with regard to the future of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), precisely because they believe that existing laws can protect them just as effectively.

I think that there are two lessons in this, and I hope that the Commission will learn from them with regard to the next measures announced by the Commissioner. The first lesson is that the Web is now considered by European citizens to be a real common good, like biodiversity or water. It is considered a space for individual freedom that must not be threatened by any kind of measure. In Washington, Senator Wyden, Chair of the Subcommittee on International Trade, whom I visited last February, told us that with ACTA, experiences such as Wikipedia might have not come into being. I do not know if this statement corresponds to the truth, but we must also adopt the precautionary principle.

Secondly, we cannot implement important measures without the citizens’ approval, and there is a need for debate, which so far has been clearly insufficient. I think this should be understood and, if we do not understand it, I believe we will not go very far in today’s Europe.

I became familiar with ACTA just after I was elected. I have followed this agreement as shadow rapporteur in a thousand debates in committee, in plenary, – and I have to say the Commission has always shown a very loyal and cooperative attitude – in interviews and in debates with civil society. I do not know if this will be the last debate. I must say that we will certainly be ready for further discussion and, Commissioner, I really do not hope that we will be able to say ‘acta est fabula’, the play is over. This is in the public interest, in the interest of freedom of expression and, I must say, in the interest of the European institutions’ image as well.