 It's a debate on the fight against disinformation to ensure a functioning and resilient democracy at all levels. We have the pleasure and the honor to have with us the president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Liedert Wirbeck, which I greet and thank him for being with us today. And allow me at the outset to welcome the president to a debate which is timely for two main reasons. First, we continue to already establish a fruitful exchange with our partners. This way we can ensure complementarity of activities and pursue common objectives to support and promote democracy at all levels of governance and further strengthen our cooperation on issues of mutual importance, also beyond the borders of the EU. And secondly, we are addressing today how to ensure a functioning and resilient democracy at all levels, an issue which lies at the very core of both our institutions. This is crucial in view of one of the biggest threats of our modern times to democratic societies, disinformation. We are looking into this from the perspective of local and regional authorities, which are well placed to play an active role in countering these threats. And we have a very timely example of this disinformation. It's about the vaccine problems, the vaccine process, pardon me, and the vaccination, where disinformation is also growing all over the world. And in elaborating effective measures to counter disinformation, we need to pay particular attention to strengthening media literacy and civic education. Local and regional authorities can play an important education role, creating the conditions for local communities to develop sound democratic habits. This issue also counts among the priorities of the Committee of the Regents in the deliberations of the Conference on the Future of Europe. We will continue to advocate for a stronger role of our local and regional authorities in empowering citizens against disinformation and ensuring democratic resilience in the broadest sense. We are looking forward to a continued cooperation with the Congress towards this goal. Dear Mr. Verbic, I now give you the floor. Welcome to the Committee of the Regents. I now give you the floor for eight minutes. Thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. I'll do my best, but I don't know if I'll stick to the eight minutes, but it will be close. Dear Vice President Cordero, dear members of the European Committee of the Regents, and I'm also happy to see so many familiar members of our Congress and ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure for me to contribute to the important debate on the future of European democracy. On behalf of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of our Council of Europe. This in the spirit of the longstanding partnership between our two institutions. It's crucial for both of our institutions to join their efforts today when our democratic model and the functioning of democracy is facing multiple challenges. This debate is taking place amid the ongoing pandemic when new restrictive measures for democracy and human rights are being introduced across the continent. This health crisis has put to a rigorous test of our institutions of governance and their ability to respond to the challenge and protect our citizens. The situation remains tense and precarious within the nations. The national executive authorities in many countries are still retaining the considerable powers which were re-centralized from the regional and local level in a reflex as part of the crisis management. At the same time, the post-crisis recovery is another important aspect. The Committee of the Regions was right to ring the alarm bell early on the lack of consultations with local and regional authorities and their insufficient presence in the post-COVID recovery plans. The Congress presented a series of specific recommendations in this respect to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in Athens in November 2020. They remain fully valid and included better use of the multi-level governance system, constant dialogue with sub-national authorities and their greater involvement in central decision-making and better access to direct funding. It is encouraging that the foreign ministers of the 47 Council of Europe Member States recognize the need for improved multi-level governance in Europe. This in response to the health crisis complemented by better multilateral cooperation as the pandemic is not impressed by national borders. Dear colleagues, the COVID-19 pandemic represents certainly the clear and present danger to our democracy, to use the military jargon, but it's by far not the only one. Before the pandemic broke out, the Congress already raised alarm in 2019 about multiple crisis faced by our societies and the loss of citizens' confidence in the ability of our system of governance to provide an adequate response. In its contribution to the Committee of Ministers in Helsinki in May 2019, the Congress expressed concern about the deteriorating link between public institutions and citizens. This done in a worrying context of an increase in anti-liberal tendencies returned to authoritarian temptations and a resurgence of nationalism. This is happening against the background of tangible effects of climate change, the struggle to cope with the increasing pace of technological change and the challenges of migration. The globalization of our economies and its impact on our traditional cultural references. We argue that these transformations lead to social anxiety and an evolution in our political perceptions. Reflected more specifically in a crisis of representation that manifests itself in many European countries. Also in the emerge of a clash society in which confrontation is the norm, which new forms of individual and collective violence. And we also see a trend towards a habit of strongly voicing indignation and a loss of discourse and discussion based on reflection and arguments. In addition, a growing proportion of citizens do not feel that they are properly represented nor secure and voice their dissatisfaction with the elected politicians. Many of these phenomena have been observed during Congress monitoring and electoral observation missions. We argued that restoring the link between institutions of governance and citizens passes through the regaining citizens trust and the crucial role of democracy of proximity in this regard. Using the net capital of higher levels of citizens confidence in local and regional elected representatives and territorial authorities overall. As we address today in this debate, the question of this information and its impact on the functioning of democracy, it is important to see this larger picture of current situation and the current challenges. It is important because the trust in fake news begins with the mistrust in public authorities and the information they provide. Rebuilding citizens confidence in the political system is therefore the only sustainable way to reverse the spread of this information. And I'm grateful to President Macron who yesterday addressed the threats of cyber attacks and fake news in electoral campaigns and processes. The first line of defense against the threats of pluralistic democracy is the local level. Our municipalities, our towns and cities for they are the clue of societies. Dear colleagues, this brings me directly to the subject matter of today's debate. It goes without saying that in the context of multiple crisis our societies are facing. The importance of reliable information received by citizens cannot be overestimated. In a democracy, citizens must have access to reliable information that they can use to participate in government, civic and corporate decision-making. Information is the key to making the right decisions at all levels of governance and is therefore a crucial factor for the good functioning of democracy and its resilience to challenges. Yet the information landscape has been changing fast with the widespread use of and reliance on the internet and its online content, social media and use of blogs. The volume, the content, the platforms, each of these has evolved beyond recognition in a short period of time. 25 years ago, most of our information came from printed publication, television and radio. Today, these are complemented, rivaled and often eclipsed by websites, blogs and social media. The monopoly of professional press has been democratized. Well-known outlets are joined by an abundance of new sources including millions of individuals that spread news with the click of a share button. This new environment represents a challenge to the traditional media. The values, the original journalism independence, the protection of sources, verification of information, investigative reporting, they have been under pressure from the need to compete with the immediacy of online content, this at the risk of the decline of fact-checking and quality journalism all over. The fast development of algorithms and artificial intelligence adds to the complexity of the issue. The fight against this information has confronted us with the question, what is acceptable when it comes to regulating freedom of speech? An open and regular dialogue between the tech companies, the governments, international institutions and civil society is instrumental in balancing rights and harm in the content moderation process. Policies have been designed by civil society and governments around the world to stop the spread of false information while safeguarding the right to freedom of expression and access to information. If technology spreads this information, this should be tamed. The new media and the tech giants should be held to account based on the need for transparency, responsibility and neutrality. However, is it feasible to mandate them with upholding specific standards of information? And who would decide on those standards? The fight against this information involves a range of actors, citizens, governments, private sector, media and social media, as well as international platforms. Media literacy is crucial in this fight. A new social culture surrounding internet must be created in order to promote social responsibility, establish clear rules on what is appropriate online behavior and raise awareness about the risks. Governments need to put a place in place new structures to support quality media, especially the public service broadcasters, which are vitally important to a healthy media landscape and have been able to maintain relatively high levels of trust. At the same time, the traditional media, they need to reach beyond their usual scope in order to connect with broader sections of society. Local media, which has come under immense financial pressure in recent years, must also be actively supported financially by central and local authorities and institutions. One of the general solutions is to raise awareness among the broader population of the role that the traditional media play. In this regard, local and regional authorities play a major role on all fronts in responding to this complex issue using their proximity to citizens. They can do so by engaging citizens and civil society in public debates and democratic participation, supporting grassroots initiatives and local media, raising public awareness, as well as improving media literacy and access to reliable information overall. Local and regional authorities have a direct stake in this matter. A debate held in our Congress last October showed that local and regional elected representatives throughout Europe are constantly confronted with the rise of fake news and hate speech, particularly on the internet and social networks, and this has worsened significantly in the last years. This makes the use of these media not only an interesting opportunity to local politicians but also a challenge. Fake news and hate speech have powerful repercussions on the work of mayors and counselors and more broadly on the functioning of democracy, especially during election or referendum campaigns. It is clear that responses to stop fake news and hate speech must go beyond side blocking or content filtering. In order to do more, the Congress has engaged in a scientific cooperation project involving academics and experts from university institutions in Ludwigsburg, Budapest, Bucharest, Kosic and Vienna. This inter-university research project will explore the trends and the harms of fake news and hate speech and the ways in which they affect local democracy. Congress members will contribute their own experience to this project and it will result in a report with policy recommendations for fighting online fake news and hate speech in the local and regional context. This report will be presented at the Congress session in March next year. Dear colleagues, local and regional authorities, they do play a crucial role in responding to the threat of this information which undermines the good functioning of our democracy. Elected representatives at grassroots level are the authorities closest to the citizens. They must take the advantage of their direct relation with the citizens and the higher level of confidence they enjoy to ensure regular communication of information that people can trust. We, the Congress and the Committee of the Regents as institutions representing these authorities must use our networks for pooling experiences and disseminating good practice to counter the spread of this disinformation. And I look forward to our discussion on this matter today. And I thank you for your attention. Thank you so much, President Fervik, for your contribution. Now we're gonna open the floor to the participation of members and I will give the floor to our colleague, Mark Spike, for two minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for the floor. And please allow me to switch to my native German. We just heard Mr. President Fervik about this. Disinformation undermines the foundation of our democracy. Therefore, the theme for the SIVEX-Fachkommission, which I consider to be the highest priority, we have been working intensively this year with this topic, dealing with expert conversations, exchanging experiences and also dealing with the counter strategies. And I can promise that we will continue to deal with this topic. This is, in view of the greater impact of disinformation on our society, also necessary. There is an obvious connection between disinformation and the trust loss of public institutions. And the regional and the communal policy is particularly affected here. The worst case is for disinformation to hate and violence. And politicians on the regional and communal level are less protected here than those on the central state level. The fate of our former colleague Pavel Adamowicz is a constant demand here. We have to work harder to protect these politicians and politicians. I am grateful that the Congress of the municipalities and regions of Europe has called for committed initiatives here. And I must say that we want to deepen the cooperation and that we support this approach. When it comes to fake news and to fight disinformation, we have to bond all forces. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the floor goes to Franz Schausberger. Two minutes. You have the floor, Schausberger. Two minutes. Yes, Mr. President, thank you very much. For the FOP-Fraktion, I would like to emphasize that with all opinion and media freedom, the struggle of the always-growing disinformation is decisive for a functioning and resistance-based democracy. This is especially true for the irresponsible disinformation in the course of the corona pandemic. And I know why I'm talking about it. For example, we in Austria have an extremely radical campaign against the parties, which shows itself in a terrifying split of society and in a low-income rate. And all those who do this in relation to freedom are the most illiberal groups that you can imagine at all. These deliberately produced disinformation polarize our societies and hinder the difficult and difficult democratic action in our regional and local communities. That is also very important. And in this case, there are often regional and communal choices. On the EU and national level, the instruments of disinformation are unfortunately still very limited and have to be thoroughly expanded. I very much welcome this collaboration between ADR and Congress. The regions and municipalities can become much more active in the fight against fake news, especially in the field of education, and the young people are able to recognize the critical environment with media content and to recognize fake news. I would also like to focus on the special presence of this topic in our neighborhood, the West Balkans and in the Austrian partnership. That is where the disinformation from European players in the East and West is even stronger and not only affects the inner political life, but also the image of the European Union. Thank you. Now I give the floor. The floor goes to Carlisle Lombards for four minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Dear colleagues, the proliferation of fake news, the discourse of hate and disinformation is gravely difficult and in danger for our democracies. I am particularly pleased that this topic is discussed today in the presence of the president of the local and regional congress of the Council of Europe, Mr. Linn-Werbeck, because if there is a topic that is really close to this cooperation between our two institutions, it is really this one. The work that you have presented, Mr. President, proves that you have a very rich contribution to bring to this common discussion, and I hope that we will be able to coordinate our efforts even more in this subject. Indeed, nowadays, the access to information is infinitely easier and faster than ever, but at the same time, for many citizens, the classical media no longer represent the main source of information and the most reliable. It has been the years that social media has taken over it as a source of information with also a remarkable age gap. The notion of fact and truth has become relative, and it is very, very serious. In the context of the pandemic, the disinformation accompanied by conspiracy theories has reached a real remarkable level. Apart from the strong negative repercussions that they have had on the European economy, the coronavirus pandemic has also aggravated the political, social and cultural discrimination. The disinformation companies have suggested that the pandemic attest the presence of foreign actors whose will is to save the European Union by diffusing propaganda and conspiracy theories and by inciting fear. And I also greet the work done by the Special Commission of the European Parliament. These companies are attacking our values, the European democracy at a multidimensional level and our social cohesion. At the same time, they can save the state when it aims at public health. As elected local and regional, we are confronted with the daily rise of fake news, of hate speech, and especially on the Internet and social networks. The PSE group would like to see a greater transparency of social networks in the way in which they propose their content to the users, as well as the logic that encourages them politically or economically. Therefore, the Commission will have to disappear from the urgency of the grey legal zones by pushing them to transparency and to align the urgent necessity of increasing the control exerted by the users. It is up to them to be imperative to involve local and regional voters in strategic decisions that reveal infrastructure, cyber security, culture and education, including the area of digital alphabetization. Moreover, territorial authorities can often repair the first and most important developments in this state. It is essential to define and implement adequate countermeasures. And I also believe that we must really focus on the problem of algorithms, because the world today is dominated and governed by algorithms much more than by politicians. And there, it is a deadly danger for our democracies. And I would like to once again to finish the results of the project that the Congress launched on disinformation. And I hope that we can continue to cooperate at the level of the implementation of the conclusions. I thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lambert. And now I give the floor to our colleague Tobias Godfard for three minutes. Thank you, Mr. President. I can also say a thank you to Mr. President Verbeck and the Congress for the excellent cooperation in the implementation of disinformation and fake news. I am convinced that the municipalities, the regions and also the education can play a central role in the topic. Disinformation always needs two. It needs a transmitter and a receiver that takes this false information. And that's why you have to apply to the receivers. Our Bavarian Constitution. Yesterday, at the age of 75, the article 125 said, children have a desire to develop self-determination and responsibility-based personalities. And I think it also says very well what we need in this fight against disinformation. We therefore have to apply in the education sector in schools. In Bavaria, for example, we already have a media leader from the basic schools, from elementary schools. We have to see that in the teaching training, the ability to recognize disinformation and to teach the children in it, we continue to build. We build in Bavaria a very strong cooperation with the youth associations. The Bavarian youth association is a strong partner in the fight against fake news and disinformation and the education of young people. We also have to pay attention to the fact that the media has a lot of content. This is not just a question of the law, but also a question of the market, a question of the concentration of the market. And I think that we are in the area of the local media, local newspapers, local radio or TV stations just have to see that there is a lot of content to be able to provide information. And last but not least, we as politicians, we can't pull ourselves back into a bubble, a bubble that we form. We have to create a participative, parliamentary culture and live. And that is very, very strong for me, especially in the regional parliament, the citizen dialogue, the integration of people. We have to actively design the digital change in democracy and also develop parliamentary technical possibilities to be able to shape it. And we have to, and this is a task that I also see in the European Union, very strongly anchored, we have to see that we are together on the European level to ensure that we have a democratic resilience. We talk a lot about resilience when it comes to goods, but it also comes with the democratic resilience. And there we have to see together that we are always up to date to go against what is challenging us. But let's start with the young people. The best thing is, if a sender doesn't find a receiver, because the receiver knows what's wrong. And what's right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our colleague Anna Magyard for two and a half minutes. Thank you. Dear President Saarbeck, two months ago you paid the troops for working visit to Hungary in frame of a conference meeting where our Hungarian central, regional and local government representatives had an opportunity to discuss with you ideas aiming at fostering a local democracy in Europe. I remember this visit very well because apart from being a member of the European Committee of the Region, I'm also a member of the Congress of the Council of Europe and I was involved in this preparations. In Hungary we discussed how to represent local and regional government at international level and successfully lobby for the interests of the citizens. You underlined Congress's unique role in the institutional architecture of the Council of Europe and the significance of the European Charter of Local and the Local Sub-Government. That meeting made me think that the role of the Committee of the Regions in the institutional setup is, in fact, not very different from that of the Congress. The two have much in common. That is why we need to reflect how to create more synergies between them. A good practical example of our cooperation in the past was the joint election observation mission. Elections was observation in a vital activity in terms of combating and preventing disinformation and countering one-sided storytelling. Observation missions involve members from different countries and political groups. Thanks to this, they are the source of more impartial information about the electoral processes than what we see in some media. As the latter often focus on too much on promoting certain ideological views and too little on facts. I regret the joint observation missions between the Congress and the Committee of the Regions where discontinued in year 2018, as I understand due to financial reasons. Both institutions are now engaging in a fight for bigger budgets. If their goals are achieved, I would like to see bilateral cooperation to in terms of elections observations between the Congress and the Committee. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our colleague, Victoria Alsina-Ilurgues. You have the floor for two minutes. In the context of citizen security, the Catalan police have taken part in a protocol to address the infractions of hate and discrimination. In the context of health, the competent department with the Catalan audiovisual council has been united to fight against the disinformation linked to COVID-19. In the context of sensitization, the Catalan cyber security agency has also generated a platform to combat this effect. In the context of the protection of journalists and human rights defenders, a series of exhaustive reports have been prepared on the matter that has been transferred to the European Commission. In the international context, from the department that I work with, the positioning and recommendations in the framework of the information about disinformation have been transferred to the Commission of the United Nations of Human Rights. Initiatives of the Catalan civil society complement this effort between the College of Journalists and the critical observatory of the media. Thank you very much for your attention and I am delighted to be able to represent the government in this organization and to be able to continue to work together to overcome this disinformation. Thank you so much. And now I give the floor to Dan Boyle for two minutes. Dan Boyle, you have the floor. Thank you, Vice President. Mr. Verbeck is president that Congress is quite correct in saying that there is a job of work to be done by political institutions to win the confidence of the general public. To do this, we need to put in place the highest possible standards of ethics, probity and accountability. And if we're honest with ourselves, there is a significant job of work to do that across the European Union. In relation to disinformation itself, I think we need to look at the media in its entirety, the traditional media as well as social media. We need to challenge more strongly the question of media ownership. We need to have more clarity in terms of how we define news organizations. Many news organizations are in fact opinion organizations and opinion organizations of vested interests. And we need to have measures put in place that helps the integrity of the information process as well as improves our collective will to understand information and how it can be best understood. We need to individually understand what the source of the information is, where are they coming from in making disinformation available, and are there other sources that can back up or verify disinformation? Otherwise, we're going to continue the trend of how we're dealing with the pandemic, how we're not properly or dealing with the climate emergency, and how political institutions themselves are becoming devalued. Social media itself, which is quite obviously not fulfilling a role in terms of public information, it's not only the different information itself, it's the quality of the discourse that many of the debates that are entered into have nothing to do with the subject matter at all, but are concerted attempts to make the argument maker or the point giver seem a bad person in the first place for having the audacity of asking questions and making comment. So it's a huge battle. We have to put aside our preconceived notions of how we have done this in the past, and we have to educate, really educate, and use our systems of education to make sure that not only the quality of information, but the level and quality of the discourse we engage in in the future is far, far better than it has been. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Now this concludes the interventions from the political groups. We have three more requests for the floor. I'll give immediately the floor to our colleague, Ellen Nalta Van Mursel for one minute. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President, and I will keep it short. This is a long day. Dear Mr. Leendert, it's nice that you are with us this afternoon and it's also nice to have an inspiring introduction for you. Thank you. This information has some consequences on the local and regional democracy, that has already been said. While it is important that the citizens, companies and civil society are involved in our policy-making and decision-making, and that can only be done as a trust. It is also essential that local and regional governments are in state to take on disinformation. It is clear that the Committee and the Congress know about disinformation the same challenges and can learn a lot from each other. I also think that it is important that the Committee and Congress work together here and then also want to imagine to take the results of the investigation of the Congress into the study of the Committee. For example, by taking the results in the report or by the reporters and researchers of the Congress to the study. Thank you, chairman. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our colleague Peter Kaiser. For one minute, you have the floor. Yes, Oskar Nekmeinte, democracy has to be fought again every day. This is more than ever in the question of communication in the digital age. Clear, open communication has to be put into the fight against disinformation as the most important means of style. It is also important to me to emphasize that we should not judge citizens and citizens, but rather such strong political parties and other fake producers who don't want anything else than with disinformation from the real democratic areas. Those are the opponents. We are trying to do this right now in Austria against parties who use this disinformation as political style means. It is important for me that there are two other things that are very important. We need stronger legal rules. We need this Europe, we need it globally. We need this multi-level governance approach. And the second, we need democratic educational processes in the educational institutions. Young people have to be drawn to criticality. These are our democratic means. I think something happened to the intervention of our colleague. It was just concluding, but nevertheless. Well, we move on with our colleague, Ascon Navarro, you have the floor for one minute. Thank you very much, dear Vice President and colleagues. This is an important problem, disinformation and fake news. It is possibly one of the most important problems that our democracy suffers. We suffer it in the day-to-day and in specific and punctual issues. We are suffering it today with many information that has to do with the vaccine and we suffer it in my country and we have suffered it in specific regions of our country when we have had problems with democracy and we have had problems with Catalan independence. We have suffered attacks coordinated from outside the European Union that have to do with disinformation. It is true that there are no magical formulas to end this. But the first and most important thing is what I think we are doing here today. Taking awareness of this problem, giving it the importance it has, talking about our main weapon against disinformation, the communication means, serious, the communication means of all life and of course not confusing the censorship with the necessary filters that the information has to have. Thank you very much. Thank you and I don't have any other requests for the floor. So I would invite President Fervik to final remarks. If you wish so, you have the floor, President Fervik. Thank you. Thank you very much and I'm happy I have some time to take the floor. I know the planning of the meeting. I'll make some remarks in general because it's too difficult, I think, to respond to each individual who spoke to you. I'm happy with the remarks. I'm happy with the support that you express on this topic. And it's my own experience in my own daily work. I'm one of the commissioners of the King in the Netherlands that's a governor. If we look to what happens in daily life that this is kind of issue that's very complex and it's very important that we as politicians understand this is a complex issue and that we don't walk away from it. It's a complex issue and it takes courage to start working on complex issues. And we need many people, we need people like you who take the courage to start a complex thing like that. That's important. A second remark I would like to make is that in my opinion this is not only a debate about what others should be doing. It's also a debate what you are doing in your own surroundings and what I am doing. Not as only as a congress, not only as a committee, but also each of you individual in your own working surroundings. What are you doing in this complex situation? It's not enough only to have meetings about it and writing reports. It needs action. And we see several opportunities. We see many possibilities. So it's important we exchange this information, but we need action from each individual. And it's very clear for me also as president of the congress, but also in my normal role in the Netherlands, that it's quite clear that topics like these cannot be answered on the national scale. We need the authorities who have a direct relation with the civilians, who have a direct relations with the companies, who have a direct relation with anybody in society, that works on these things, that has trouble because of these things. We need the direct contact. And that's you. That's me. And that's not the national government. And in some of our countries, in my opinion, the national governments do not recognize enough the importance of the role that local and regional authorities play. It's also clear, and I think we should be willing to discuss this too, there are different types of false information. It's not all the same, it's not the same pile, because there is misinformation out of ignorance. People just don't know. They just copy what other people have said. And one of the programs we all should carry is that democratization, democratization, that's a difficult word for me, of knowledge is very important. There are too few who know too much. We should share knowledge much more with our people who live in our cities. We should share the information about the projects we are doing. We should not share only parts for strategic reasons. We should be open, we should have open communication. We should tell the people the information that are at the bottom line of the work that we are doing. People get suspicious because they have the feeling, they have the intuition, not all the information is shared that makes them suspicious. This is a different kind of problem than the fake news that's also used for political reasons. Fake news that's used for destabilizing the situation. And I'm very worried myself if we see, I don't know if I can say that in the surroundings, but I see a rise of fascism where groups of people deliberately try to destabilize the society. This is a different kind of debate. And this also needs courage. Courage from you, from me to stand up in these situations, to give clear answers, to make clear that destabilizing is not the solution to the problems that you are discussing. But we see groups that think that destabilizing is the solution, but it's not. It's making it more and more complex and it will make casualties. Casualties, usually in areas of people who are out of ignorance not knowing what they're doing. So we should analyze very careful what is the situation. Is this a lack of knowledge or is this a political action? And then we should act. We should train ourselves. We should train the people around us. We should do educational activities to know how to deal with these situations. And once again, I want to stress this. This is not only a job of your committee. It's not only a job of our Congress, but the job can only be done if each of you is willing to do so. Stand up in the front. That's why you're a politician. That's why I'm a politician. Be clear in your communication. Be honest in the information. Do not hide information. So you get the confidence of the people you're working with. That's my firm belief that that's the path we have to go. But we must be honest. We make quite some mistakes in this path. That's the truth. I make mistakes, you make mistakes too. We should learn better to do this much better than we do nowadays, because partly we created the problem ourselves, I think. We're responsible for the problem too. It's not only the others. That's what I'd like to say. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, President Furbic, for your thoughts and for your experience and for your leadership in this issue. So this concludes our debate on this issue. And I would like once more to thank President Furbic for being with us today and sharing with us his talks and his opinions. Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna move forward to point 20. It's a presentation of opinions. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that any possible discussion about amendments must take place during the presentation of the opinions during the debate that follows the presentation. So when we vote, it's only voting. So now we're gonna go to point 20. Point 20 is an opinion on the European Commission Report and Competition Policy in 2020. Our colleague, Tadeusz Truskolowski, is the rapporteur and we also have the pleasure of having with us Andreas Schwab, member of the European Parliament that will participate in this discussion. Without further delay, and to use the floor during five minutes, I give the floor to Tadeusz Truskolowski. You have the floor. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored to have the honor to be part of the European Commission Report and the Econ Commission to present an opinion on the policy of the competition in 2020. Ladies and gentlemen, those who have read this opinion see that the great beauty of this opinion was suppressed by the disease, was suppressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But we have to look forward to this opinion on the one hand, on the present, and on the other hand, on the basis of the future regulation. The goal of the competition rules is to ensure the proper functioning of the domestic market. The effective policy of the competition enables the company to compete in new conditions. This, on the other hand, increases the innovation and long-term economic growth. The policy of the competition is the key tool of the domestic market and the guarantee of economic prosperity. The first part of the opinion is devoted to the support of the company during the pandemic, which I mentioned a while ago. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that financial aid should be designed and recognized in a transparent and responsible way in terms of social, economic and environmental. The second part concerns the problems of modern European markets. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that digitalization is particularly important for the MSP, because it eliminates the limitations that arise from the use of geographical integration. Our actions should be aimed at strengthening the meaning of the ordering of the dominant position in the market. We should also support the actions of the services experienced in the general economic interest, which remain necessary for the survival of the entire society in Europe, especially in the isolated, remote, and peripheral regions of the United States. This guarantees them a longer and greater competitiveness. Another important aspect is the environment of the United European market, and therefore the economic relations with the third countries. We should ensure that we maintain the free market rules. Their guarantee is a regulation. We cannot stop the process of de-concentration of the chain of values. I repeat the implementation of goals concerning the international struggle with social inequalities and the climate crisis which requires action in accordance with all the conditions that are required, such as production, employment, or environmental conditions from outside of the European Union. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for all the 13 amendments. We are aware that the policy of the competition of the European Union requires a wide-scale consideration. Thank you. I have also prepared two auto repairs, the repairs of the driver's license, which include our conditions in accordance with certain regulations. So these repairs have been officially announced. 13, 9 were accepted by me, 2 of which I did not agree with. And up to 3, I have prepared two auto repairs which, perhaps in one case, will be related to some language issues and issues related to translation. I would also like to thank all of you for these amendments, but also thank and introduce my expert, who is right behind me, Dr. Kamil Waligura from the University of Biamstok, who is an outstanding economist and who worked in the final form of this opinion. So, thank you once again. I am happy that I can be here in Brussels live and I would like to have a discussion as well as an opinion. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that I've tested some disinformation on you. After all, we don't have Andreas Schwab. It's my fault, it was my mistake. And we don't have any other requests for the floor to intervene about this opinion. Yes, we have. Isold Reis, you have the floor for one minute. Good day, my colleague is a colleague and she wasn't wrong. I just gave my word message at the last press conference. I would like to thank Mr. Truskulaski for his report in the name of the S.P.E. faction, also from ECON, because I think it is really important that the legislation was relaxed, but not only because it was relaxed because of Corona, but also because of the economic situation and because of the application to become climate neutral. We need legislation that does not cut off the industry, but that helps them. We need support for investments and for operating costs. And we need to help in general so that it can provide the company with money in the future in these difficult conditions, not only from the EU, but also from government and countries. And that only works with relaxedness and that's why it has to be extended. Thank you very much, Mr. Truskulaski. Thank you. I don't have any requests from the floor. So Mr. Truskulaski, if you wish to add something as final remarks, you have three minutes for that. You have the floor for three minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you. On the one hand, you can say that if this discussion was not too lively, I mean, I can draw such a conclusion that most of the people agree with this opinion. Thank you very much, Ms. Reis, which expressed this opinion and the values that it represents. Please, I think this is an important voice, an important voice of the regional committee, an important voice of our local communities. I am President of Białystok, a city located in the north-eastern part of Poland. And we, unfortunately, are complaining that our voice is not heard enough in our country. That's why I am happy that the European Union, the regional committee, all the values that we have entered into the European Union are being neglected and that they are being supported. I think that great hope in the European Union is that the units will have the right role in Poland as well. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Truskalowski. That concludes our debate and this opinion.