Kaja Kallas (ALDE). – Mr President, this agreement on the cross-border portability of content is to be welcomed, because it corrects a flaw, a loophole in the European Union, which is an area of free movement of citizens, goods and services. We have the tendency in the digital world to create barriers that should not even be there in the first place. Maybe it is because of fear of losing control. When you buy a film on a DVD, nobody takes it from you when you cross the border. So why would we prevent citizens from watching a film that they are paying for at home with an online subscription when they are crossing the border?

Abuses can always come along, and in this respect I hope that the service providers will use the most user-friendly means of verification, such as e-IDs for example, to check the home country of the citizen. I wanted the use of IP addresses, in that respect, to be stricter than that, and I hope that the enforcement of this law will safeguard the individual’s right to privacy.

Last but not least, I think that taxpayers should also be able to watch the content that they have already paid for in their home country, for instance with a broadcasting fee. Although this is only voluntary, I hope that many public broadcasters will be innovative and proactive and deliver such a possibility for the users.