Catalan MEP calls on European Commission to promote people's right to broadband access

Junqueras affirms that broadband access is essential in order to build a European knowledge economy as defined in the Lisbon objectives.

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya MEP Oriol Junqueras today urged both the European Commission and the Council to promote the right of EU citizens to have broadband internet connection. Speaking in Italian during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Republican MEP said:

"This service is an important element of economic growth, of social justice and regional balance because it guarantees access to information and avoids the creation of a digital divide."

Oriol Junqueras underlined that the right in Europe to broadband access is absolutely essential in order to construct a European knowledge economy, as defined in the Lisbon objectives. The MEP also highlighted that Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communication announced last week that Finnish people would enjoy the right to broadband access, as a universal service, from July 2010 onwards. To begin with, this broadband provision will include traffic of 1Mb per second, increasing by the end of 2015 to 100Mb per second.

Junqueras asked the European Commission to take action in order to adopt the Finnish model and to make sure that Europe develops into a world leader in economic modernisation and equality of opportunity.