eParliaments & the eEU

Speech by Diana Wallis, Vice-President of the European Parliament delivered to attendees of the European Parliament's Slovenia Information Office's seminar on eParliaments on Sun 15th Jun 2008

Thank you for inviting me to this 'e-conference' in Bled. This is my fourth visit to Slovenia and my first to Bled, with still one more to go before your Presidency ends. That's some going.

It was great to hear the announcement yesterday as the plane landed, especially after the events in Ireland, 'Welcome to Ljubljana, Slovenia: the current Presidency country of the EU'. You are proud of the Presidency. You should also be proud of the agenda of the conference. I know how much work, particularly by the European Parliament office here in Slovenia, has been put into this conference and into these issues - which they will rightly tell us about in due course.

It is really something for me to be here on behalf of our President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering ,as these are issues that are important to us, especially as we approach the elections to the European Parliament in almost exactly one year's time.

Before coming here I was told that this conference was something of a 'brainstorming' event, so let me, by way of opening, share some thoughts, or 'brain storms', with you, around two themes:

Firstly, the EU, and of course particularly, the Parliament, in its role as a policymaker, a legislator in the 'e' environment. Then, secondly, the European Parliament as a communicator, as a political institution in its relationship with its electors, its citizens.

However, as a backdrop to those two themes, let us first consider the changing communication environment that we have lived through and are living in, the communications revolution we witness and have somehow to harness. Let's take what's happened in a lifetime, my lifetime - and I'm not so old!

Shopping: as a kid I can remember being sent to the local shops - a bakery, a greengrocers, a newsagents. To go to the big new supermarket or a bookstore meant a trip to town. Now I buy most of my books online, often Amazon, not always, certainly not just the UK - France, Germany, the US. The world of books is in my study, and my every want arrives with the postman.

Work: I was a lawyer before I was elected. I first worked in a law office in London in the summer of 75 - just out of university. The only phones were fixed ones, and all communication came with the daily post - the opening of which was an important social event. No telex, no fax, no email. Even no photocopier! How did we survive? I tell you after the last nine years of absence following my time in Parliament, I think I would be scared to go back to a law office again, such is the rate of change.

Politics: My mum had some involvement with the local Labour party. Our MP, an elderly gentleman with a stick, appeared on our doorstep for long chats at election time - that was it - and that was all that was expected!

So many changes have taken place within my lifetime, and indeed perhaps the most far reaching changes have occurred in that time since the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979 - thirty years next year.

Of course, the EU as a set of institutions are uniquely placed, and our Parliament is in a unique position. We preside across a borderless European space, and this should likewise give us a huge opportunity to use what is also a borderless communication tool and medium. There is a unique synergy between these two borderless spaces which we should really exploit. ".eu" was and is a hugely powerful marketing tool for our institutions and our area of the world, but it should also be more symbolic of our future aspirations.

Having, I hope, set the scene, let me go to my first theme about the EU, about our Parliament as a policy maker. The main manifestation of our borderless European space is the Internal Market, an amazing achievement which has seen all sorts of 'real' barriers to cross-border trade dismantled - gone.

When I was elected in 1999, all the buzz was about e-commerce and the Euro, and everybody thought the Internal Market was really going to come into its own. Of course the reality, whilst successful, has been more sobering. We are still grappling with legal frameworks, legal systems that still relate to 27 independent states, seemingly still leaving us with 27 mini markets. We rather tentatively find ways of interlocking the systems, so as not to threaten the sensibilities of national sovereignty. But the result of this is that our citizens lack real confidence to buy cross-border online, because of differences in contract law and redress mechanisms. And small traders say, "sorry, I'm not going to study 27 different legal regimes before I put my website up - I will just restrict my offer to my own national market!".

A recent Eurobarometer study found, surprise, surprise, that our citizens would quite like a common contract law system at EU level. So what's the problem? Many have suggested, for years now; that we need an internet 'blue flag', a blue button that leads straight to approved contract terms valid across the EU. We could get there if we are serious about releasing the online benefits of the Internal Market. But perhaps too we have to realise that the legal problems (for which read also 'political problems') are there in the real world too - where they still need to be unravelled.

The same Eurobarometer survey also showed that our citizens expected more of us in terms of delivering cross-border justice online. Now there is much being done in individual member states. That's great, but here's the challenge: will we be able to link it up across the EU, link it technically, linguistically? What does e-justice mean in the European space? At the one level it could be just the EU through the intended EU

EU justice portal, providing information to its citizens about their legal rights as victims, rights as accused, information about all the legal systems across Europe. A massive information site. Does this help? Of course it does - especially in EU terms because of our commitment to multilingualism - a specific added value that the EU can guarantee that access to all EU citizens whatever their language - providing they have computer access.

But is that all? What about a system of justice equal to the Internal Market? When I use the internet to shop, can I equally use the internet to claim when all goes wrong?

Can the citizen from his or her front room in Bled file a claim against a mobile phone provider from Helsinki whose goods didn't turn up? Or against the guy whom he had a car accident with in Greece who damaged his car whilst on holiday? And who hasn't paid up for the damaged caused?

The amazing thing is at EU level we have created the legal instruments, the Payment Order, the Small Claims procedure, to operate Europe-wide - but can we get them online?

At the time of legislation the European Parliament made a fuss about the forms in an annex. We wanted to ensure they were accessible, multilingual, and could be adapted for online use.

We should be able to get there. Currently Austria and Germany are working together - in a fast lane. The Commission promises a study. We have to get a grip - have a vision at European level.

Of course, it will never be as easy or as straight forward as we think - but here Europe could really deliver something.

Even the steps towards video-conferencing in courts can help, relieving not only the need to travel, but also appeasing the emotional cost involved.

These matters could impact well on our citizens in their daily lives if the EU gets it right - thinking of elections next year.

I am less convinced by the projects of linking land registers, business registers, insolvency registers. We have enough troubles at national level without the EU having to take responsibility for someone wrongly on a Europe-wide insolvency register!

European justice on the internet needs to be something that is liberating, that grants accessibility and ease of use, otherwise not available. Then the EU will have scored.

We must too be careful as legislators that all we do in future does not preclude or complicate online solutions, but rather facilitates them when we are ready - politically - to go there.

My second theme, was the EU, particularly the Parliament, as a political body, a directly elected Parliament making decisions, making law relating to its citizens, its electors.

Technology offers us so much, and the biggest plus the European Parliament brings to that is its commitment as a trans-national democracy to multilingualism. Accessibility, democratic involvement and transparency for all who seek it.

How do we relate? Phenomenally, I am told, 90% of our mail is now email. One of the most important rights that EU citizens, indeed residents, have, is the right to Petition the European Parliament. This can result in an enforcement action, and can result in new legislation. In 2007 our Petition facility went online, and over that year 42% of the petitions submitted to the Parliament were received online.

This is not just a black hole, post-box petition as in Downing Street- The petitions are considered by a Parliamentary Committee and the Commission - it's a serious process.

Each year some 300,000 visitors come to the European Parliament premises in Brussels or Strasbourg - in my experience they are always impressed by it, that it feels as though it is their Parliament, that they have a connection.

300,000 real visits a year, but the European Parliament website gets 60,000 unique hits a day. But we all know, just as you can put down a leaflet, or a newspaper, switch off a TV channel, you can also decide not to click on a website again.

The challenge is interactivity, dialogue, a real exchange with our citizens. Over the next days you will hear much about the WebTV project, about the online project here in the Slovenia European Parliament Information office.

Let me compare this with the world of commerce - what we are trying to attain. You can have a brilliant website.

Let me give you a personal example: I very much want a name plate - a house name for our house. I came across a wonderful website, traditionally made signs, custom design, lots of customer testimonials. So I sent details - nothing, tried a second time - nothing, I phoned - voicemail. My emails got ruder - I still don't have my house sign.

Technology does not always do away with the need for good personal service. No less will technology do away with the need for good policies and good politicians. People still need the equivalent online of the friendly face at the door. That is what we have to attain, now especially.

The EU has gone through a bad and bruising week with the outcome of the referendum in Ireland. At such times it is good to see ourselves as others see us, so I will end with a comment from an American writer written in 1999, but no less valid today:

'As the European Union continues down the path of continental integration, the Internet will likely afford a mechanism for a continent-wide expression of views that will be in place long before the various sovereign nations see fit to surrender political control to a joint government. With a speed that will far outstrip the ponderous pace of political integration and slow dissolution of national sovereignty, technology will fashion a European electorate whose voice will transcend the timid and halting steps of its national leaders toward unity. W will hear the voice of Europe over the Internet long before we hear it from any official organ. The Internet will give Europe its voice long before the ballot box does.'

Related Link:

Details for the eParliament seminar can be found here.