Brussels, 28/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is satisfied overall: of the 101 targets it laid down for 2015, 95 have been achieved or are being achieved at the moment, it announced on 28 May in its 2014 scoreboard on the digital strategy. To sum up, individuals and businesses in the EU are using the internet more and are making more online purchases. Their confidence in digital technologies has also been reinforced. On the other hand, they are not enjoying high-speed broadband connections up to the level of their aspirations, particularly in rural areas. The announced deficit in digital skills also remains very worrying. “Most Europeans now live digital lives and they are hungry for more. We have solved the internet access problem. But the digital skills gap persists. Unless we all do more, we will face a digitally illiterate underclass in Europe”, commented the commissioner in charge of the digital strategy, Neelie Kroes.
Last year, following a request by the European Council, the Commission proposed concrete measures to create a single telecommunications market in order to resolve problems which have today been confirmed. The aim is to create an economic climate and a regulatory framework which are conducive to competition and investments on the digital technologies markets. The 2014 digital strategy scoreboard assesses progress made in this matter, at European and at national levels, taking as a reference the 13 key performance indicators, on the basis of the data from 2013. Of the 101 actions laid down by the strategy set in place in 2010, 72 are complete, 23 will be within the timeframe laid down and six have been delayed or could be. More specifically:
- regular internet use: the number of people who use the internet at least once a week increased from 60% to 72% since 2010. The countries which have made the most progress are Greece, Romania, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Croatia, with the best results seen in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with more than 90% of the population regularly using the internet;
- big progress among disadvantaged groups: among the unemployed, people with low education levels and older groups, usage is up from 41% four years ago to 57%. If further progress is made at the same rate, the 60% target will be reached before 2015;
- decrease in non-users: 20% of people in the EU have never used the internet, which is down one third from four years ago. If the current trends persist, the target to get the number down to 15% by 2015 will be met;
- increasing success of online purchasing: currently, 47% of EU citizens are now shopping online, representing an increase of 10 percentage points, indicating that the target of 50% by 2015 is likely to be achieved;
- access secured: 100% of Europeans now have access to broadband. Usually this includes several options (fibre, cable, ADSL or 3G/4G mobile access), but many Europeans now have access to affordable satellite broadband as a minimum;
- fast broadband technologies: 4G mobile broadband availability increased sharply, growing from 26% one year ago to 59% today. 62% of the EU population has a fixed line internet connection of at least 30Mbps, whereas this percentage was just 54% one year ago and 29% in 2010. Fast broadband is already available to 90% of homes in Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The remaining challenges are in the following areas:
- small businesses are missing out: just 14% of businesses with under 250 employees are selling online. Across the EU, not a single country comes close to achieving the EU average target of 33% by 2015:
- rural areas at risk: only 18% of rural households have access to high-speed broadband;
- stagnation of eGovernment services: only 42% of Europeans used these services in 2013. Continuing at this rate will not see member states achieve the target of 50% by 2015.
On 28 May, the Commission also published the 11th edition of the “eGovernment benchmark” report. The conclusions show that users remain considerably more satisfied with private online services (such as online banking services) than with public online services (which include employment information services). The offer of online administration services is increasing, but these are still not always user-friendly and their speed and transparency also leaves much to be desired. These obstacles stand in the way of wider use of online government services, the Commission regrets. (IL)