Brussels, 27/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of 28 media entities from the press, audiovisual sector and new media presented Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who is responsible for the digital agenda, with their ideas to create a single digital market, which is struggling to come into being. The report submitted by the EU Media Futures Forum, under the aegis of Christian Van Thillo, CEO of De Persgroep, will help Kroes to convince the European leaders that the digital policy is not a supplement, but in fact the key to economic growth, stresses the spokesperson to the commissioner, Ryan Heath. “From VAT to copyright, via data protection and broadband investments, this group has a warning signal to send out”, Heath explained.
Europe is going through the digital change, but is not in control of this revolution. Worse, it has been overtaken in sectors in which it believed it was competitive, such as mobile telecommunications and network equipment. In order to give it the resources it needs to become a world leader, the decision-makers must adopt the necessary changes, provide for new business models and create a culture of innovation. EU Media Futures Forum has identified eight obstacles currently hindering the development of digital Europe. The effectiveness of the eight solutions has been tested, in Europe and the rest of the world. It now remains for the stakeholders and political decision-makers to make a genuine and concerted effort to adopt them, the Forum stresses. Here are the recommendations it has made: (1) create the single digital market by 2015, by reviewing the current “online” and “off-line” VAT and copyright systems, which are no longer properly adapted; (2) promote new business models which allow a free use of data, to promote the development of commercial activities in the sector of new technologies, by continuing to guarantee consumers the protection of their data; (3) reward the creators of content; (4) adapt financial support to audiovisual creation: different national aid policies and linguistic and cultural diversity also stand in the way of an effective support policy; (5) re-establish a fair competition framework for all media actors: currently, the rules differ between broadcasters and service providers, and between operators based on EU territory and those established in third countries; (6) remove barriers to entering the markets; (7) increase access to and use of content and services anywhere in the EU, via any platform; (8) rapidly create the infrastructure needed for the development of new technologies. (IL/transl.fl)