Brussels, 20/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Members of the European Parliament agree, overall, with the European Commission in emphasising the urgency of putting in place a genuine digital single market.
On Tuesday 19 May in Strasbourg, Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip presented MEPs with the digital single market strategy unveiled two weeks ago. He summarised the main points in the strategy, which includes 16 ambitious initiatives based in three key areas that seek to improve consumers and business access to digital goods and services.
The strategy is particularly keen to create greater protection for online consumers by removing geo-blocking, revising telecom rules and modernising copyright. Andrus Ansip highlighted the need to take swift action and carry out all the projects planned and warned “if we only succeed in implementing half of them, we will not manage to create a genuine digital single market”. He said that he was aware of the scale of the task and the limited timeframe available to take action, “it is a major endeavour, we only have 18 months to prepare the initiatives and take all the key decisions”.
Several MEPs spoke after the presentation by Andrus Ansip to set out their respective positions:
Speaking on behalf of the EPP, Françoise Grossetête from France welcomed the Commission initiative, whilst highlighting the importance of taking swift and thoroughgoing action. She explained that society was opening up to a major new industrial revolution where everything would be digital and that “either Europe gets on board or it simply becomes a digital colony”. She also stated that “Europe has to be a digital creator and not just a consumer”. Speaking on behalf of the S&D group, Marju Lauristin, from Estonia, emphasised digital skills and the challenges that the digital single market would create in terms of education, training and the recycling of human resources. She explained that “this is not just about the digital single market but also about the digital society in Europe”. She explained that digitalisation “required new skills”. She concluded that although the opportunities were enormous, the risks were too. Vicky Ford (ECR, United Kingdom) said that they needed to use the advantages contained within the digital economy more and that this was the key to competitiveness, employment and growth. She said that certain points in the strategy were good whilst others required more work. She concluded that the digital single market is a global market and that building a fortress around Europe would not work. Speaking for ALDE, Czech MEP, Dita Charanzová, thought that the Commission could have been more ambitious, “the strategy should even go further to create rules for a level playing field for all European businesses, especially the SMEs that have to spend a lot of money to be able to sell beyond their borders”. Speaking on behalf of GUE/NGL, the Dutch MEP, Dennis de Jong, agreed that “innovation is crucial for the European economy and the Internet has to be part of this”. He insisted that “we have to ensure that the Internet remains a free and open forum”. Michel Reimon (Greens/EFA, Austria) was more guarded and deplored the fact that “we heard talk of improving consumers' access to goods and services but not a word about access to knowledge”. David Borrelli MEP (EFDD, Italy) said that they still had a long way to go and that “currently, only 7% of European SMEs sell their products outside their country of origin and only 15% of consumers buy online in another country”. The non-aligned French MEP, Mylène Troszczynski, criticised the Commission's determination to get rid of national borders and the fact that it had demonstrated “contempt for the nations and their respective peoples”.
Parliament will soon be presenting a report in which it will defend its ideas with regard to the Commission proposal. Several EP committees will also contribute to the report. The digital market will also be on the agenda of the European Council Summit in June. (Isabelle Lamberty)