The European Parliament supports the main lines of the new Digital Europe Programme (2021-2027), as defined by the European Commission. This is what emerged from the tedious vote on Wednesday 21 November in the Parliamentary Committee on Industry (ITRE), which was responsible for the substance.
Based on a 60-page voting list incorporating the amendments of the seven other parliamentary committees involved, ITRE committee members called for a programme that consolidates and extends the Union's digital base, addresses societal challenges and addresses market failures.
The five priorities maintained
In concrete terms, MEPs supported a programme based on 5 priorities with a budget of €9.2 billion over 7 years. However, they have slightly increased these priorities, which relate respectively to high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills and access modalities.
Thus, in the field of artificial intelligence, MEPs stressed that projects must be human-centred and that the programme must also be accessible to researchers, universities and NGOs. They also specified that ‘actions that were not ethically acceptable or did not meet the conditions should not be eligible for funding‘.
Eligibility of the programme specified
With regard to the accessibility of the programme, MEPs stress that it should be open to European Free Trade Association countries that are members of the European Economic Area. The others should be analysed on a case-by-case basis.
The text also suggests a case-by-case assessment of legal entities established in a third country, instead of a firm exclusion as suggested by the rapporteur, Angelika Mlinar (ALDE, Austria). Thus, it stipulates that those entities not associated with the programme are ‘exceptionally eligible to participate in specific actions when this is necessary for the achievement of the objectives of the programme and when it does not involve additional risks to the security of the Union or when it does not call into question the Union's strategic autonomy‘.
As regards the objective relating to training, the text specifies that third-country nationals may be eligible if they reside on European territory.
A final change is that the text requires each Member State to identify at least one digital innovation pole in order to form an initial network. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)