19/09/2013

_ Soria: “Spain is getting ready to adjust our digital economy to a a more integrated environment”

_ Barnier: “An open and competitive European digital single market that believes in the preservation of privacy and cultural and social diversity is necessary”

_ Arias: “The key to materialize the digital single market is to simplify the regulation system”

_ Zarzalejos highlighted FAES commitment with the promotion of an “analysis for innovation, integration and competitiveness of the European common market”

FAES foundation organized on Thursday, September 19 the conference “Toward a Digital Single Market”, with the participation of the Minister for Industry, José Manuel Soria, and the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier. Pablo Arias, MEP and member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and Javier Zarzalejos Secretary-General of FAES have introduced the conference.

José Manuel Soria claimed in his address that “Spain is getting ready to adjust our digital economy to a more integrated environment”. It is an effort which he linked to the General Telecommunications Law passed by the Council of Ministers on Friday 13. According to the Minister for Industry, the new law falls within the framework of the Government's reforms plan and its aim is to “establish a clear and stable regulatory framework which encourages investment, provides legal certainty and removes the barriers that hinder the deployment of networks”.

Soria specified that this new regulatory framework aims to “recover market unity, simplify administrative matters and tax issues, increase network sensitivity and provide some clarity on the rights and obligations of citizens”.

Talking about Europe, Soria highlighted that “technology has shown the deficiencies of what we thought was a single market”. Nevertheless, he expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the Commission “is taking real steps to eliminate barriers that have been there for too long”.

A EUROPEAN VISION

On the other hand, Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, stressed that “we have to use the single market tools to create a European notion on digital economy”. “A new vision for an open and competitive European digital single market that supports privacy protection and cultural and social diversity, in which the integration factor is still largely unfinished is needed” he stated. For that reason he supported the idea of “providing Europe with the political and economic instruments to enable the creation of a true single market, and therefore, a leading digital economy which defends our values”.

Barnier also said that we need to adapt the single market to the new reality of digital technology. For that reason, he referred to the need to unleash the potential of e-commerce, continue with the modernisation of the European area of copyright, promote the development of the Electronic Administration in Europe and advance toward the telecommunications single market. In this line, Barnier congratulated Spain for its “approval of the recent General Telecommunications Act”, the purposes of which, he added, are the same as those of the European Commission.

SIMPLIFYING THE REGULATORY SYSTEM

According to the Spanish MEP, Pablo Arias, “simplifying the regulatory system is the key to materialize the single market” at a moment when, he said, "the different regulations that we find in Europe are not adapted to the digital age”. Arias regretted that “most protectionist and diverse barriers that we the Member States have developed, burdened the implementation of a proper digital single market”, while also claiming that the Union “cannot afford to make the same mistakes that it has made before”. 

The MEP has also valued "as a good initiative" the recent launch of the plan for the telecommunications single market of the European Commission. “The plan starts to show some results in issues as delicate for consumers as the elimination of roaming costs in the EU, or improving connectivity” he said. 

Lastly, Javier Zarzalejos, Secretary-General of FAES, highlighted FAES commitment with Europe and the promotion of “analysis and debates of ideas, the aim of which are to improve innovation, integration and competitiveness of our European common market”. Additionally, he said that it is necessary to address public policies dedicated to the consolidation of the digital single market, to enable the free movement of online services across national borders. For that reason he considered it necessary to “make an important effort toward that innovation, competitiveness and increasingly changing environment in which the future well-being of Europe is at stake.