24 Amendments of Ioannis A. TSOUKALAS related to 2011/0299(COD)
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) Telecommunications networks and services are increasingly becoming internet-based infrastructures, with broadband networks and digital services closely interrelated. The internet is becoming the dominant platform for communication, services, education, participating in the social and political life, and doing business. Therefore, the trans-European availability of fast Internet access and digital services in the public interest is essential for social and economic growth and the Single Market.
Amendment 83 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12 a (new)
Recital 12 a (new)
(12 a) High-speed internet is important for the implementation of the new technological infrastructures, which are necessary for the scientific, technological and industrial leadership of the Union, such as cloud computing, super computers and smart computing environments.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12 b (new)
Recital 12 b (new)
(12 b) By 2015 all European research and academic institutions should be connected in an ultra high-speed Gbps networks, creating an intranet for the European research area that will enhance the networking of research, e-infrastructures sharing and e-science.
Amendment 91 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15 a (new)
Recital 15 a (new)
(15 a) The availability of high-speed telecommunications infrastructures is ineffective without the availability of high-relevance and high-quality multilingual digital content and digital services that would be offered through them and would form an attractive digital ecosystem to European citizens. Therefore, it is essential to promote the development by Member States of e- government, e-democracy, e-learning and e-health services, which will boost the demand for broadband, the need for e- skills and the development of the digital economy.
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15 b (new)
Recital 15 b (new)
(15 b) The role of e-skills and the use of ICT in education are indispensable in order for the Union to achieve its policy targets. Technological literacy is not only an objective but also an essential tool for achieving life-long learning, social cohesion, social and economic growth.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) Increasing and preserving access to Europe's rich and diverse cultural content and data held by public sector bodies, and opening them up for reuse in full respect of copyright and related rights, will nurture creativity and spur innovation and entrepreneurship. In this context the Europeana digital library, as the flagship project for preserving European cultural heritage and promoting the innovative use of cultural digital resources, should be strongly supported. Unhampered access to re-usable multilingual resources will help overcome language barriers, which undermine the internal market for online services and limit access to knowledge.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) In the area of safety and security, an EU-wide platform for sharing resources, information systems and software tools promoting online safety will contribute to creating a safer environment for children online. It will enable centres handling hundreds of thousands of requests and alerts per year to operate across Europe. Critical Information Infrastructures will enhance the Union-wide capability for preparedness, information sharing, coordination and response to cyber security threats. In this respect, the role of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) is irreplaceable for building safety, security and trust in the European digital single market; ENISA should be strengthened in order to be able to effectively support Member States in the development of coherent policies and strong competences for a safe and secure European digital realm.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) It is expected that innovative applications of commercial, social and educational nature running on digital service infrastructures will emerge. Their exploration and testing can be co-financed as part of research and innovation projects in the Horizon 2020 programme and their deployment under the cohesion policy.
Amendment 151 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) the deployment of broadband networks to link island, mountainous, remote, landlocked and peripheral regions with the central regions of the Union ensuring in those regions that speeds of data transmission are sufficient to permit broadband connectivity of 30 Mbps and above;
Amendment 200 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – paragraph 2
Annex 1 – paragraph 2
The deployment and enhancement of trans- European telecommunication networks (broadband networks and digital service infrastructures) shall contribute to fostering economic growth, creating jobs and achieving a vibrant digital single market. In particular, their deployment will grant faster access to the internet, bring about information technology-enabled improvements in daily life for citizens, including children and young persons, businesses and governmentsolder people and persons with disabilities, businesses and governments, including educational institutions at all levels of education, increase interoperability and facilitate the alignment or convergence to commonly agreed standards.
Amendment 215 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 4
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 4
Rural and low density areas, especially islands and mountainous areas, are typically served with low speed connections and in some cases even not served at all. The business case for investment is unlikely to be viable and the European targets are unlikely to be reached by 2020. Investment in these areas needs higher financial support, provided by grants, possibly in combination with financial instruments. Such areas will include remote and sparsely populated regions where investment costs are either very high or where income is low. The support from the Connecting Europe Facility in these areas is likely to complement available cohesion funds or rural development and other direct public support.
Amendment 218 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 5
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 5
High density/urban areas – with the exception of some low income regions - are typically well served with medium to fast speed connections, often provided by competitive offerings of cable and telecom operators. Yet because of this relatively satisfactory situation the market incentives to invest in very high speed networks such as fibre to the home are limited. In several cases publicly owned metropolitan fibre- optic networks have been deployed which remain severely underutilised and inaccessible to private businesses. Thus financial support may be also envisaged to investments in urban areas with dense populations which do not attract sufficient investment despite societal benefits it would generate, provided that it is in full compliance with Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as, if relevant, with the Community Guidelines for the application of state aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks.
Amendment 230 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 9 – point a
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 9 – point a
(a) Support investments in broadband networks capable of achieving the Digital Agenda 2020 target of universal coverage at 30Mbps, or even more ambitious national or regional targets; or
Amendment 237 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 9 – point b
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 9 – point b
(b) Support investments in broadband networks capable of achieving the Digital Agenda 2020 target, or even more ambitious national or regional targets, and of having at least 50% of households subscribing to speeds above 100Mbps;
Amendment 261 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 13 – point d
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 13 – point d
(d) Partnerships between several operators active in wired and wireless markets to build new generation of infrastructures and operate existing ones.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 15
Annex 1 – section 2 – paragraph 15
In addition, high speed connections to public internet access points, notably in public facilities, such as schools, hospitals, local government offices and libraries, and universities, museums and cultural heritage sites, hospitals, public transport means and hubs, local government offices and libraries, and the wide-spread availability of free wireless networks shall also be supported.
Amendment 266 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 3
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 3
A public trans-European backbone service infrastructure will provide very high speed and connectivity between public institutions of the EU in areas such as public administration, culture, education, research and health. This backbone infrastructure will support public services of European value through controlled quality of services and secure access. It will therefore guarantee a digital continuum of public service provisioning for the greater benefit of citizens, businesses and administrations. It will allow demand aggregation for connectivity, reaching critical mass and reducing costs.
Amendment 268 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 6
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 6
Interoperable ‘cloud computing’ service will provide the backbone infrastructure functionality on which clouds for trans- European public services can be offered. This includes network-type of trans- European services such as video- conference, virtualised storage, virtualised computing, and supporting computing- intensive applications, including those related to other projects of common interest.
Amendment 275 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 11
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 11
The development of the core service platform will build on the current Europeana portal. The platform – which requires the development, operations and administration of distributed computing, data storage facilities and software - will provide a single access point to European cultural heritage content at item level, a set of interface specifications to interact with the infrastructure (search for data, download and combine data), support for the metadata adaptationaccessing, transforming and adapting metadata and content in various open digital formats, and ingestion of new content, as well as information on conditions for reuse of the content accessible through the infrastructure.
Amendment 278 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 15
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 15
Distributed computing, data storage and software facilities will provide: single access point to multilingual (all EU official languages) datasets held by public bodies in the EU at European, national, regional and local level; query and visualisation tools of the data sets; assurance that the available datasets are licensproperly anonymised, licensed and priced to be published and re-distributed, including a data provenance audit trail; a set of application programming interfaces for software clients to interact with the infrastructure (search for data, gather statistics, download data) for the development of third-party applications. It shall also allow for collection and publication of statistics about the operation of the portal, the availability of data and applications and the way in which they are used.
Amendment 279 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 16 – point b
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 16 – point b
(b) interoperability and standardisation of datasets, including legal and licensing issues, to enable better re-use;
Amendment 280 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 18
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 18
The platform will enable acquiring, maintaining and making available large collections of live language data, in written and spoken form, and reusable language processing tools. It will cover all EU languages and will comply with the relevant standards and agreed service and legal requirements. The platform will allow for flexible addition, curation and refinement of language data and tools by contributors, and ensure easy, fair and secure access and repurposing of such resources by organisations offering or developing language-enabled services. The platform will also support cooperation and interworking with similar initiatives and data centres, existing or forthcoming, within and outside the EU.
Amendment 281 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 20
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 20
The support will provide integrated and interoperable services at European level, based on shared awareness, resources, tools and practices and aimed at empowering children, their parents and carers, and teachers to make the best use of the Internet. ENISA should be consulted on all activities that are relevant to its operations.
Amendment 290 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 24
Annex 1 – section 3 – paragraph 24
The core service platform will consist of a network of National/Governmental Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and ENISA based on a minimum set of baseline capabilities. The network will provide the backbone of a European Information Sharing and Alert System (EISAS) for EU citizens and SMEs. in collaboration with ENISA.