mr president i speak as a former minister in the uk responsible for gambling controls so when we talk about a europe of free trade and a europe that opposes protectionism a europe which opens markets and tears down trade barriers of course i am very much in favour of that
some of our colleagues who stand up here and call for a more open europe are also the same people who are supporting the maintenance of monopoly structures for the gambling industry
i might say that monopolies or they might say i should say that monopolies are better at controlling and treating the problem of gambling which has been discussed this morning
that is very interesting because a lot of the data certainly does not support that argument
the arguments for protectionism and monopolies in the gambling sector are self-serving more control and then more money for national governments
this is not the open europe or the transparent europe that i want
it is the europe which says do as i say not as i do
there is no reason why private gambling providers operating under high levels of regulated protection in one eu member state should not be allowed to operate in others
there is no reason why a tightly regulated but open market will not provide an equivalent if not a higher level of protection to citizens as any tightly controlled state monopoly
as we wait for that the european court of justice's verdicts continue to roll out
they must be getting a bit sick of the issue in luxembourg or speaking as a lawyer perhaps they are not quite so sick of it but above the deafening silence that has come from the commission so far it does seem to me that it is now time for action
the degree of legal uncertainty must be ended
can i just say that i think it is important for parliament to signal its renewed willingness to tackle the issue and to send a strong signal to the council and commission that we should not hide away from this
with a new commission we do hope for new impetus
i have great faith in you commissioner barnier
i hope that you will note the advice that you receive and begin to work out a strategy to ensure that online gambling can become a legitimate part of the internal market with of course appropriate regulations in place
