Jasenko Selimovic (ALDE). – Madam President, to all of those who believe that Brussels is just composed of grey bureaucrats imposing their decisions on the national governments, I would advise them to look at what we just voted.
For example, people who wanted to take advantage of the single market, those who want to work somewhere else in some other states, who may want to open business in some other state, they need that crucial information online. For example, how to register in a new city, how to calculate taxes, how to find where the closest garbage collector is, etc. 92% of the European population don’t know that they can get that the information online and now, today, we’ve fixed that problem. We have just voted to establish a single digital gateway to ensure that citizens and businesses have easy online access to complete, accurate and up-to-date information. Thanks to this House, we have made the lives of European citizens much easier.
Lucy Anderson (S&D). – Madam President, well this new measure will establish an improved easy-to-use version of the Your Europe web portal. So I was very pleased to vote in favour today as the enhanced Your Europe portal will help citizens and organisations quickly find the information they need to carry out key activities across the EU, such as starting a business or obtaining proof of residence.
The Socialists and Democrats took the lead on Parliament’s input and secured an excellent result, including better access for disabled users and more security and safety in relation to personal data. But it is very worrying that the UK Government has no idea, as in so many other areas, how to replicate such an effective tool for individuals and for businesses after Brexit.