"The year 2000 was the year of real breakthrough of Internet in Europe, " said Erkki Liikanen, commissioner for the information society.

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Erkki Liikanen, the Finnish commissioner, was allotted the budget portfolio, and with it a chance to knock some rigour into the commission's financial planning and financial controls.

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Erkki Liikanen, the European Commissioner overseeing the move, had told MEPs fragmented information available on the internet not only discriminated against non-English speakers but could also be piecemeal and unreliable.

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