Mr President, I too declare an interest as someone who has worked for a third of a century in the broadcast media. In that time I have seen access to my industry become more difficult rather than easier because of the power of media conglomerates, because of the systematic destruction of the public interest element in broadcasting and the press in the UK presided over by the government which Mr Donnelly supports. I have seen that process go on and I come now to the European Parliament wondering what the Commission is going to do on the international scale about this phenomenon. And I hear the answer provided by the now absent benchers of Forza Europa. The answer is to have even larger versions of what we are seeing there. The new hero of broadcasting is Silvio Piccolo, the little man who is taking on the Americans. I do not believe that for one moment. The logic of that is to give Berlusconi not one country but two or three or four, making a much more effective competitor to the Americans!

What I want to hear from you, Commissioner, is the guidance you are offering on the phenomena which today challenge plurality of opinion in Europe. What are you offering in terms of action on vertical integration? What are you doing about a proprietor who can dominate the means of delivery of satellite systems, who controls systems of encryption, who stockpiles sufficient programmes to make new production by new entrants to the market uncompetitive? What are you doing about those who deny access to broadcasters to their transponders because those broadcasters may be criticizing the governments with whom the owner wishes to ingratiate himself? What are you doing above all about those who, like our dominant proprietor in the United Kingdom, say that monopoly is a bad thing until you have it for yourself? It seems to me, Commissioner, that we want answers and not another round of consultations. The worst political principle in my opinion is the principle of unripe time.