madam president as has already been mentioned my colleague ms kroes had a small accident so that is why she cannot be with us
on four november two thousand and eight the commission published for consultation until fifteen january a draft new broadcast communication
we are serious about the process of wide consultation
parliament's committee on culture and education has scheduled a hearing for five march and as has already been mentioned the ppe-de group already held such a hearing on thursday last week in the presence of the director-general for competition philip lowe
this dialogue between the commission and parliament is important
we stand ready to listen and to reply to your questions
we also know that parliament agreed in september two thousand and eight that state aid to public broadcasters should be delivered so that they fulfil their function in a dynamic environment avoiding the use of public funding for reasons of political or economic expediency
this concurs with our views both public and private broadcasting are important
the dual system of broadcasting is an answer to europe's media landscape which must be safeguarded on all platforms
the draft broadcasting communication therefore seeks to consolidate the commission's state aid case practised since their existing two thousand and one communication
the draft ensures that our rules reflect the rapidly changing new media environment
the objective of modernising the communication is to increase transparency and legal certainty
the draft communication clarifies that public broadcasters shall provide audiovisual services on all media platforms while leaving private operators sufficient incentives to stay in the market
this is ensured by the so-called amsterdam test which balances the value and the negative effects of publicly financed media services at the national level
why do we have these tests
because having these tests at the national level helps to avoid commission intervention
the commission increasingly receives complaints about borderline cases where a public media activity may have no clear value for citizens but where the market impact appears considerable
the commission however feels that repeated interventions in this sector would not be in the spirit of subsidiarity
this is why we want member sates to share the commission's responsibility for controlling the market impact of state finance media services
the amsterdam test will ensure that new media services of public broadcasters satisfy the social democratic and cultural needs of viewers and listeners while limiting the collateral damage for state aid for private operators to a minimum
we cannot agree that the amsterdam test would involve an unjustifiable administrative burden
of course any test involves work but the minimum effort we require is reasonable and necessary
firstly the test is only foreseen for important and truly new services and here our draft leaves a large margin of appreciation to member states
each member state can decide when a new audiovisual service actually merits being tested
secondly the draft exempts pilot projects from the test
public broadcasters can therefore continue experimenting with new media without any preliminary tests
thirdly the draft leaves member states full freedom to choose their adequate procedures and institutions which apply the test
it is finally worth mentioning that smaller member states such as belgium and ireland already implement such tests
the solutions found in these countries are proportionate to the resources available
as the test is quite broad there is also no possibility of infringing on editorial freedom
the test merely requires that a public media service satisfies the social democratic and cultural needs of society and that its impact on the market is commensurate
to safeguard editorial independence we also open the possibility in the draft that under certain conditions the test is done by a public broadcaster itself
in summary i would say the amsterdam test should be seen as an opportunity rather than as a threat
it will help to maintain media pluralism in the new media environment by safeguarding fairness and certainty for both commercial media including online newspapers and our excellent public media
