Brussels, 11/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner responsible for the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, speaking in Lisbon on Monday, predicted a series of measures part of the action plan "e-Europe". For the Commission, it is a question of beginning to implement the conclusions of the Lisbon Summit on ways and methods of developing the information society. Erkki Liikanen placed emphasis on rapid and cheap access to communication infrastructures for all citizens and undertakings in Europe. For him, the reduction of access costs cannot occur without opening up the "last mile" to competition, that is, the unbundling of the local loop. The Commission's priority fields of action are also the education of European citizens to live and work in a digital age, the promotion of social cohesion while affording exclusion to information, and providing public access points to the Internet. However, "access to the Internet means nothing if Europeans do not find their own language, (…) with the possibility of exploiting cultural diversity and Europe's rich heritage and creating added value". According to him, companies' start-up procedures must also be simplified, legislation completed on electronic commerce by end 2000, the creation of a European rapid research network for tap European brains and avoid a brain drain to other regions of the world.