Brussels, 26/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the Digital Agenda Assembly held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 21 and 22 June, Commissioner Neelie Kroes spoke of better allocation of the radio spectrum for mobile and wireless communication and “ending roaming rip-offs once and for all” as the biggest achievements so far, urging greater action from national governments and industry. By way of comparison, Kroes talked about China, which is installing 35 million fibre connections this year alone, while the largest EU member states have just a few hundred thousands fibre subscriptions. She spoke of the benefits being seen in the US from high quality ICT capital, a spirit of innovation and easy access to a large market. “In a digital age, Europe seriously needs to keep up”, she stated.
At the half-way point in the EU's digital agenda, Kroes has no intention of changing “winning formula”. “We should continue to pursue remaining actions vigorously”, she made clear. She intends, however, to focus on five priority areas (the digital agenda has seven strands covering 101 initiatives in all): cloud computing, broadband, digital security, innovation and public services. Cloud computing, for example, could offer massive benefits: it could deliver benefits of €2,000 per citizen over the next five years and generate 2 million jobs. To deliver fast broadband, private investment and legal predictability have to be encouraged. “But we still need decision-makers to recognise the advantage of this investment, and unlock the financing”, she noted. Innovation has to be boosted through, for example, revamped European research and innovation programmes. Entrepreneurs must have broader support, encouraging them to innovate. A spirit of entrepreneurship has to be developed. The quality and efficiency of public services, including across borders, have to be improved. In security, Kroes argued that the best model was an open internet, “One where we can defend against critical risks, malicious attacks, or criminality”. (IL/transl.rt)