Brussels, 31/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the Telecoms Council adopted a conclusions document on the European Commission's initiative, a Digital Agenda for Europe, which was presented to the ministers by EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes and followed by a discussion. All the ministers welcomed the Commission's approach. The information technology and communications (ITC) industry is one of the rare sources of growth at the moment in terms of both productivity and employment. It has an impact across-the-board on the rest of the economy and it therefore has to be backed, explained the Spanish industry, tourism and trade minister Sebastián Gascón, who was chairing the meeting. Neelie Kroes said that the work had not yet finished but this was an important staging point. She said that the EU had to pull out the stops to achieve tangible results and put itself in the driving seat. Work would be needed at national level, she added, along with cooperation and coordinated behaviour.
The conclusions document adopted by the Council makes general points, given the short period of time between the Commission's publishing of a report on 19 May and the Telecoms Council meeting of Monday 31 May. The document welcomes the objectives set out by the Commission, commenting that the Digital Agenda has to be at the heart of the EU 2020 strategy and work in perfect harmony with the other EU 2020 components with the full involvement of stakeholders. The ministers recognise in the document that the Digital Strategy is important for Europe with a view to increasing quality of life for Europeans by providing better healthcare, safer transport, new technological opportunities and better access to public services. The ministers also agree with the aim of setting up and consolidating a single digital market relying on mega high-speed internet connections and application interoperability with a view to increasing productivity and economic growth in Europe and creating new jobs. The EU should encourage the digital economy in all areas of business in order to maximise growth potential and should make use of new technology to help meet global challenges like climate change by encouraging a low carbon economy. Effective and competitive investment should be made in new generation fibre optic cable networks to provide consumers with greater choice and the EU with greater competitiveness. All Europeans have to go digital, argued Commissioner Kroes. Gascón said that the aim was to have 100% broadband coverage by 2013 and 100% high-speed or mega high-speed broadband coverage by 2020. On the problem of ensuring broadband coverage in the countryside and remote areas, areas which do not promise enough return-on-investment for investors to bother with them, Commissioner Kroes said that state aid might be needed. She was quite optimistic about coverage being arranged in remote and country areas. The ministers agreed with the Commission's ambitious action plan, involving: 1) Setting up a fully operational single market for companies and consumers in the EU; 2) Consolidating the EU's ITC competitiveness by increasing R&D; 3) Introducing coordinated network and information security measures to boost people's confidence in cyberspace; 4) Ensuring effective action to promote investment to encourage development and competition in an mega-rapid internet for all; 5) Encouraging everyone to use the internet and boosting the use of new technology in education and training, providing all Europeans with the digital skills they need; 6) Using ITC to deal with society challenges like climate change, the ageing population, growing healthcare needs and e-administration; 7) Improving ITC standardisation and interoperability, 8) Boosting the EU's technological capacity by increasing opportunities for small business to play a full role in the global economy; 9) Ensuring the EU's Digital Strategy has a sharp focus on the outside world; 10) Encouraging legal access to online content and making e-commerce easier for the business world and consumers; 11) Taking measures to promote the supply of high-quality online content and facilitate e-commerce; and 12) Giving the Commission the responsibility for examining progress in the Digital Agenda and reporting back regularly to the Council of Ministers and European Parliament.
The ministers urge EU heads of state to take the importance of the Digital Agenda for the EU's economic and social development into account when discussing and adopting the EU 2020 strategy in June 2010. The Commission and member states are urged to find ways of improving the coordination of the relevant institutions at EU and national level to improve implementation of the Digital Agenda. (I.L./transl.fl)