Thank you Mr President, I think Mr Langen gave a very good presentation of the amendments he faces and I am looking forward to see the compromises he drafts.

Four or five points stand out though, the social element. I think we should still focus on the social element of competition policy and see the interaction between social policy and competition how is working out especially with regards to regions, re peripheral regions and disadvantaged regions.

Secondly the separation of legislative and executive functions, the argument that the Competition DG drafts the regulation and then implements them. I think there was already a discussion about some kind of separation of powers on this one and there are amendments in this sense as well.

Another point that we have to look at, and Mr Langen mentioned it as well, is consumer rights regarding to banking, where I think we need to discuss exactly the context of this.

And finally, or pre-finally, on taxation – I have my views on that, they are minority views, and I think of course that the majority views should be reflected in the Report. But minority views have got to be thought as well because taxation is a very sensitive subject, and is not necessarily one that is done well at European level. This is up for grabs, up for discussion.

Finally, the digital agenda – this is a very important chapter in what we are doing. Should I think be not just considered in terms of what google stands for or not but also in terms of how it is going to affect SMEs. There has just been a report, a survey of SMEs in the digital area and how they look about the digital market strategy of the EU, of the Commission, and they surveyed European businesses in the digital area at SME level, and 92% of the surveys, of the guys surveyed, claimed they are not ready for the arrival of the single digital market, and many of them are still not aware of how the digital single market can be implemented and what it stands for. So I think even in terms of how we look at our text on competition in the digital area, and how we can sort of structure it at a European level, we have to take account of the end users, and be aware that the end users are not really prepared for it.

Thank you very much Mr President.

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