Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional political agreement on the Path to the Digital Decade on the night of Wednesday 13 to Thursday 14 July (see EUROPE 12990/6).
“Europe has just embarked on the path of the digital decade and has started to build a framework to accelerate the EU’s digital transition by 2030”, commented rapporteur Martina Dlabajová (Renew Europe, Czech).
In concrete terms, the programme setting out the Path to the Digital Decade foresees that by 2030, 80% of the population aged 16-74 should have at least basic digital skills.
Some 10,000 highly secure, climate-neutral edge nodes, which will enable data processing at the network edge, will be deployed across the EU. In addition, the ambition in the text is to have 75% of European companies using ‘cloud’ computing, ‘big data’ and artificial intelligence services.
At the same time, work will also be done for SMEs, as the text sets a target of 90% of them having achieved at least “a basic level of digital intensity”.
From a technical point of view, the provisional agreement reached in the inter-institutional negotiations introduces a new governance based on cooperation between the Member States and the Commission. The Commission will develop, together with the Member States, ‘trajectories’ at European level setting targets.
Member States, for their part, will have to develop national trajectories and strategic roadmaps to achieve these objectives.
The provisional agreement also provides for the targets to be reassessed in 2026. Implementation and progress will be monitored on the basis of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The Commission, for its part, will be responsible for evaluating them in an annual report.
Finally, the text also foresees to focus on multinational projects, by setting up a legal structure, and to facilitate co-financing by Member States, the Commission and public and private investors.
On the latter point, several areas have already been prioritised, including high-performance computing, common data infrastructures, the deployment of 5G corridors and the network of cyber security centres.
The provisional agreement is expected to be put to a vote by MEPs on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy on 1 September. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)