Rapporti verbatim tad-dibattiti

Il-Ħamis, 17 ta' Jannar 2008 - Strasburgu

4. Riżultati tal-forum dwar ir-regolamentazzjoni ta' l-Internet (Rio de Janeiro, mit-12 sal-15 ta' Novembru 2007) (dibattitu)

  Die Präsidentin. − Als nächster Punkt folgt die Erklärung der Kommission über die Ergebnisse des Internet Governance Forums vom November letzten Jahres in Rio de Janeiro.

  Meglena Kuneva, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, the idea of an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was born at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in November 2005 and defined as a non-binding forum for multi-stakeholder policy discussion.

The Commission supports the Forum in this form. Two meetings have been held so far: in 2006 in Athens and 2007 in Rio. The Commission welcomes the forum in each form. The Commission also welcomes the participation of Parliament at the forum and is grateful for the excellent cooperation on both meetings.

As in the previous year, the meeting in Rio provided an excellent framework for enriching exchanges which allowed the gathering of a range of views on the relevant issues.

Therefore, the Commission sees value in upholding the main characteristics of the forum, notably the participation of the various stakeholders and its non-binding nature.

I would like also to thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to say something more concrete on the IGF (we have adopted this abbreviation) which took place in November in Rio de Janeiro.

Firstly I would like to thank very much Ms Trautmann, Mr Harbour, Mr Badia i Cutchet and Mr Hökmark, who represented Parliament at this meeting, for their active participation and for the continuation of their excellent cooperation. This allowed us – this year again – together to highlight a number of European priorities such as freedom of speech, bridging the digital divide, security and child protection on-line.

It is important for Europe to bring such issues to the forefront of the international agenda on a constant basis. The Commission supports the IGF. This concept, elaborated during the World Summit on the Information Society, is still very valuable, and all the issues which have been mentioned are very much in favour of what we are trying to step up as actions in this particular field.

In fact, on a broad range of internet-relevant subjects, the number of participants – around 3 100 – clearly demonstrates that there is indeed interest in having such a place for discussions.

The fact that there is no negotiated text as an outcome of the Forum should be seen as a strength rather than as a weakness of the process. The Forum allows for open exchange, without the pressure of defending a particular outcome in a binding document.

This can serve as a basis for improving understanding of each other’s concerns and can pave the way for finding common solutions. Dynamic coalitions stemming from the Forum are, in fact, one example that the IGF can work as a platform where people who share common interests can further cooperate.

Thus, the Rio Internet Governance Forum meeting again provided an excellent framework for enriching exchanges, which allowed a range of views on relevant issues to be gathered.

I would also like to thank once again Members and hope we will continue our excellent cooperation, because this is one of the most promising areas for our future work.

  Gunnar Hökmark, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – Madam President, it is important to underline the rapid change that use of the internet and ICT has brought about, not only for individual societies, but also for the world. In all sectors of societies, the impact of the internet has changed patterns and opportunities. This is important in order to keep a perspective for the future, because the strength of the internet has been its independent nature, its opportunities and its ability to adapt to different opportunities and demands in societies, based on a number of different actors and operators.

It is important because, when we look to the future, we must ensure that it can be used in order to bridge rifts between countries and people, and help to fight poverty and support development – it is of crucial importance for the Millennium Goals, for example. The emergence of new technology should also be used to ensure that it is easier for more people to use the internet, in more societies.

We in the European Union have three important things to focus on. First of all, we should ensure we are committed to, and support, the IGF process and its independent and non-binding character. That is of deep importance, because it is a good process which is much more dynamic when it is independent and non-binding.

Secondly, we should contribute to the preparations for the next IGF in New Delhi, and ensure that we hold discussions with parliamentarians and civil society in order to underline its independence, but also the opportunities. Thirdly, we should ensure that the internet is guaranteed freedom and freedom of expression.

  Catherine Trautmann, au nom du groupe PSE. – Madame la Présidente, Madame la Commissaire, chers collègues, le deuxième forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet s'est déroulée à Rio du 12 au 15 novembre dernier et a attiré 2 100 participants de tous les continents qui ont représenté les parties prenantes à l'Internet de tous les milieux publics et privés.

Le forum fournit un contexte favorable à la recherche de solutions sur les problématiques futures des TIC. Par une culture commune et un partenariat, il facilite les décisions à prendre lors des prochains sommets mondiaux sur la société de l'information et aussi par nos États.

Il permet également de mener une réflexion ouverte, à la hauteur de la complexité d'Internet, voire d'anticiper ses limites tant techniques qu'éthiques et juridiques car les enjeux sont grands outre les sujets chers à l'Union: réduction de la fracture numérique, liberté d'expression sur la toile, diversité culturelle, protection des enfants – j'en citerai quelques autres – l'identification par fréquence radio, l'IRFID, c'est-à-dire in fine la constitution d'un Internet des objets, les risques de saturation des réseaux à l'horizon 2010-2012, la numérisation, en particulier des biens culturels, les conséquences engendrées pour la protection de la propriété intellectuelle et surtout le développement de l'accès aux TIC des pays moins développés.

L'Europe est en pointe pour ce qui est de l'appareil législatif. Pour nous, Européens, c'est encourageant, mais ne nous endormons pas. Nombre de ces questions juridiques ou réglementaires sont d'ailleurs remises sur le métier avec la révision du paquet Telecom.

J'en appelle ici à une nouvelle phase de travail politique et prospectif concret, en particulier au travers de la création d'un IGF européen via les parlements nationaux et les pouvoirs locaux. Forum européen mis en œuvre d'ici 2009, peut-être forum mondial en Europe grâce à la Lituanie candidate pour 2010.

En tant que chef de délégation, je veux remercier tous les membres, collègues et fonctionnaires pour leur travail et leur disponibilité. La résolution que nous allons voter constitue une feuille de route. Je suis heureuse qu'elle bénéficie du soutien de l'ensemble des groupes de ce Parlement. Davantage de commissions parlementaires sont invitées à contribuer au renforcement de cette action, et je voudrais remercier la Commission ainsi que la solliciter pour engager la collégialité de son instance en soutien de Mme Reding. Enfin, je voudrais m'adresser au Conseil afin qu'il inscrive dans son ordre du jour des relations avec l'Inde, la préparation du forum à New Dehli et que tous les États puissent également s'engager dans la coopération renforcée.

  Toomas Savi, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Madam President, among other items, the public service value of the internet was discussed in Rio de Janeiro on 13 November 2007. Nowadays, the most limited asset of European citizens is time, and it is vital for the governments of the Member States to introduce public services on the internet.

My home country, Estonia, has done much in this field: e-voting, e-tax declarations, e-government and e-registry office are only a few examples of successful ‘e’-projects that could be implemented across Europe.

I know that it is much easier to reform a small country, where approximately 66% of the inhabitants use the internet. However, moving public services to the internet is worth the effort.

One of the prerequisites for the functioning of democracy is participation. ‘E’-solutions provide the possibility of participation with minimal effort: there are no queues or officials exercising the right of discretion. The internet gives citizens more independence and ensures impartial administration of their affairs.

However, it is essential to start such education from an early stage in schools. On the other hand, computer literacy has succeeded where Esperanto failed – it has become the most universal language – and efforts should be made not only to bridge the digital gap at regional and global levels, but bearing in mind the different age groups and social strata.

Last but not least, the European Parliament often seems to occupy itself with producing immense volumes of paper. Why not upgrade our tools of democracy and implement paperless administration?

  Ryszard Czarnecki, w imieniu grupy UEN. – Pani Przewodnicząca! Internet jest jak nóż. Nóż może kroić chleb, który codziennie jemy, ale nóż może też zabijać. Trudno sobie wyobrazić dzisiejszy świat bez Internetu i naszą dzisiejszą pracę bez Internetu, ale też Internet jest instrumentem wykorzystywanym, na przykład przez pedofilów.

Dlatego też bardzo dobrze, że Unia Europejska, jako jeden z priorytetów na ostatnie forum zarządzania Internetem, które odbyło się w Brazylii dwa miesiące temu, uznała, że tym priorytetem będzie ochrona dzieci w Internecie. Powinniśmy starać się łączyć maksymalną dostępność sieci i otwartość z zapewnieniem bezpieczeństwa nie tylko dzieciom, ale tym wszystkim, którzy mogą być zagrożeni przez instrumentalne wykorzystywanie Internetu.

To znaczące, że następne forum zarządzania Internetem odbędzie się w stolicy Indii, w New Delhi, a więc w kraju, który stał się potęgą informatyczną, mimo, że jest krajem relatywnie biednym, obsługującą światowe koncerny, a jednocześnie pozwalającą na polepszenie statusu materialnego setkom tysięcy ludzi.

Godne poparcia wydają się dwie propozycje. Pierwsza to idea zorganizowania forum zarządzania Internetem za dwa lata w jednym z krajów nowej Unii, np. w Polsce, czy na Litwie. Druga to rozwiązanie naszego, nie światowego, ale naszego, europejskiego forum zarządzania Internetem. Tutaj rola Parlamentu Europejskiego jest absolutnie podstawowa. Oczywiście w ramach Unii to nasycenie Internetem w ramach państw członkowskich jest zróżnicowane, także w moim kraju, w Polsce, jest ono zbyt słabe, poniekąd ze względów ekonomicznych. Unia Europejska powinna działać na to, aby to nasycenie było w miarę podobne, zwłaszcza na obszarach wiejskich.

  Malcolm Harbour (PPE-DE). – Madam President, I would like to join with Ms Trautmann – and I think I am speaking for all my other colleagues as well – in expressing my gratitude to the Parliament Presidency for having enabled us to go as an official delegation.

This was a fact well noted by the many participants. We were the most active of all the political delegations there, and there were more European parliamentarians than any others. However, we are now seeing signs that other parliaments are looking at the Internet Governance Forum and realising they need to engage with it, because it addresses crucial public policy matters on which they need to be involved.

The speeches given by my colleagues have covered a number of the issues. I would just like to make some broad observations about how I see the process evolving, particularly because I am the only Member of this Parliament to have attended both the world summits on the information society, and have also been through the process from the very beginning. There is a feeling that the forum in Rio is now starting to come up with much more practical ideas, and people are beginning to realise the value of exchanging information and best practice from around the globe.

That is based on an understanding that it is not actually going to be formal, international, legal structures that are going to deliver many of the benefits we are looking for. In fact, we are going to have to deal with many of these matters through intergovernmental cooperation, and in many cases through cooperation between voluntary or non-governmental organisations.

In the case, for example, of child protection, which the previous speaker referred to, the most successful initiatives have been those carried out by voluntary-based organisations – such as, in my country – the Internet Watch Foundation. It was very important to actually talk to people about such organisations.

I will close by giving you a clear example, at a broader level, of the value of such interchanges. I participated in a workshop on consumer protection data breach notification, which is about to be discussed in Parliament as part of European legislation. I have a whole dossier on what has been done in other counties, and would say to the Commission that their proposal is currently extremely weak and would benefit greatly from its looking at that information. This is the sort of practical benefit we can derive from such forums, and I am sure we in this Parliament will be able to contribute to the development of the agenda for the next forum, to make it even more effective.

  Francisca Pleguezuelos Aguilar (PSE). – Señora Presidenta, creo que la señora Comisaria y todos los que hoy hablamos coincidimos en la importancia y en el impacto político y social que están teniendo estos foros, a los que cada vez asisten más personas.

Por eso, creo que tenemos que felicitarnos por el compromiso que desde Europa estamos haciendo. Pero creo que, simultáneamente, tendríamos que aprovechar la oportunidad política que se nos ofrece en este momento, como decía la señora Trautmann, para reflexionar sobre el nuevo paquete de telecomunicaciones. Y en esa línea creo que, tanto la Comisión como el Parlamento, tenemos que trabajar para ofrecer no sólo a los ciudadanos europeos el acceso a los mejores servicios digitales, sino que tenemos que liderar, creo, la extensión de esa sociedad de la información como un bien social para esos países que también necesitan de la cooperación y del liderazgo europeo.

En esa línea, creo que es muy importante lo que se señalaba aquí, trabajar por problemas comunes como la sensibilidad, la libertad de expresión en la red y la protección, que creo que son prioritarias.

En este momento creo que es fundamental, y termino, Señoría, que hagamos compatible lo global con lo local, creo que es una prioridad, y en esa línea es relevante la apuesta que se refleja en la resolución que hoy aprobaremos y que espero que sea el acicate para que la Comisión siga incluyendo en su agenda política estas prioridades.

  Lambert van Nistelrooij (PPE-DE). – Voorzitter, ik was er niet bij in Rio, maar ik was wel bij de eerste conferentie in Athene, en heb toen gezien hoe belangrijk deze formule van het forum is; stakeholders verkennen in dit kader met elkaar de grenzen die erg belangrijk zijn en die wellicht later in de wereldverhoudingen en ook in onze EU in regelgeving worden vertaald.

Achter deze dialoog gaan nog best heel moeilijke onderwerpen schuil. Ik denk bijvoorbeeld aan de domeinnamen, het icon en de invloed van de Amerikanen daarop. De achterliggende idee is dat we het toch uitermate belangrijk vinden dat het world wide web ook een echte wereldomvattende, eenduidige aanpak blijft kennen. Daarom is het belangrijk te zien dat je juist ook signalen uit dit debat terugvindt in de nieuwe aanpak van het icon en dat de ideeën van partners mee aan boord worden genomen.

Voorzitter, ik wil vandaag met name één aspect belichten. Ik ben nadrukkelijk voorstander van een Europess forum, een Europese vertaling van het forum voor internetbeheer in de komende jaren, het liefst vóór de verkiezingen van 2009. Wat we moeten doen, is ervoor zorgen dat we in de debatten toch ook onze nationale parlementen aan boord brengen. Je ziet aan initiatieven in een aantal landen, zoals in het Verenigd Koninkrijk, dat die onderwerpen leven; gezien het belang naar de toekomst, zowel voor werkgelegenheid en welzijn, als voor vrijheid van informatie en participatie, is het essentieel dat we de nationale parlementen in een Europese aanpak met de andere stakeholders aan boord brengen.

Ik doe een beroep op de Europese Commissie. Ik lees in de stukken dat ze onvoldoende instrumenten en centen hebben om een en ander te ondersteunen, om een andere insteek te kiezen; er is geld genoeg. Kijk in i2010, kijk in de programma's voor onderzoek, enz. Ik zou graag voor een heel ruimhartige opstelling kiezen om dat gezicht van Europa in deze problematiek vóór de verkiezingen van 2009 nog eens extra duidelijk neer te zetten.

  Zita Pleštinská (PPE-DE). – Ďakujem, pani predsedníčka, že ste mi dali možnosť vystúpiť k tejto zaujímavej debate.

Oceňujem myšlienky na zvolávanie fór o regulovaní internetu a účasť poslancov Európskeho parlamentu na nich. Internet je v dnešnej dobe nevyhnutnou súčasťou života európskych občanov každého veku. Práve v znevýhodnených regiónoch je možnosť získať rýchle internetové pripojenie priam nemožné. Veľmi často so závisťou sledujem reklamy v našich slovenských verejnoprávnych a súkromných médiách o štvornásobnej rýchlosti internetu a o jeho výhodách. V mojom bydlisku nemáme takúto výhodu a naše skutočné možnosti sú obmedzené iba na lokálne zdroje s nedostačujúcou rýchlosťou.

Pani komisárka Kuneva, čo môže Komisia urobiť, aby sa nezabudlo aj na znevýhodnené regióny a na ľudí, ktorí v nich žijú, aby aj títo ľudia mali rovnaké príležitosti zapojiť sa do digitálneho sveta?

  Gunnar Hökmark (PPE-DE). – Madam President, I just wanted to say one thing. I would like to thank Ms Trautmann, who led the delegation to Rio and did it in a very good way. I did not mention that in my first intervention, but I think it is important to state. We all found her to be a very good leader. I would just like that to be noted.

  Meglena Kuneva, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, let me start with the next steps, which are more concrete. Following the Rio meeting, consultations will be held in Geneva next month to collect views on the outcome of Rio and the preparation for the next meeting in New Delhi. The Commission participates in the advisory group which assists the UN Secretary-General in the preparation of the IGF. As has been our practice since the World Summit on the Information Society, we will of course inform Members of the outcome of this meeting. I would now like to answer some of the specific questions raised by MEPs, starting with Ms Trautmann.

We welcome the fact that Ms Trautmann addressed, in her speech at the opening session, the issue of the ‘Internet of Things’ and the possibility of bringing this up at the IGF next year. With regard to the second part of Ms Trautmann’s speech, regional IGFs have emerged in a number of places, and this appears to be a useful way to focus on questions of internet governance that are of particular importance for a specific region. The Commission strongly supports this idea.

Moving on to Mr Savi, we could not agree more with his statement, and this is why the Commission is committed to the development of the e-application with the broad programmes and legislation.

To Mr Czarnecki, the Commission is committed to all the initiatives on child protection. We promoted the item on the IGF agenda and we are about to propose a renewed programme on child protection on the internet.

  Die Präsidentin. − Zum Abschluss dieser Aussprache wurde gemäß Artikel 103 Absatz 2 ein von sechs Fraktionen unterzeichneter Entschließungsantrag eingereicht⁽¹⁾, über den heute um 12.00 Uhr abgestimmt wird.

Die Aussprache ist damit geschlossen.

(Die Sitzung wird um 11.40 Uhr unterbrochen und um 12.00 Uhr wieder aufgenommen.)

VORSITZ: HANS-GERT PÖTTERING
Präsident

(1) Siehe Protokoll