Brussels, 20/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the Informal Council of Ministers for Telecommunications and the Information Society, to open on Thursday in Vitoria (Basque Country, Spain) and ending on Saturday, there seemed to be broad consensus in both economic and political circles in favour of recasting the eEurope initiative and extending it beyond 2002. The questions to be answered by the Fifteen will therefore cover the practical arrangements for improving the programme, the aim of the Spanish EU Presidency being to approve a summary document that takes up the results of the meeting with a view to the Barcelona Summit on 15 and 16 March. The Fifteen's reference document will be the assessment report on eEUROPE 2002 approved by the European Commission on 6 February (see EUROPE of 13 February, p.18). We recall that the Commission stresses in the report that, although the rate of Internet penetration has increased, there are many problems. The breakthrough of electronic commerce is only very modest with major disparity existing between northern and southern EU countries mainly regarding wide band access. Also training is insufficient, etc. The Commission does not beat about the bush when it concludes that eEurope must be pursued after 2002. This conclusion is shared by UNICE, the European employers' lobby (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12).
On Friday, the ministers - who met in camera in the administrative capital of the Basque Country - will hear views expressed by a number of experts. They will include César Alierta, Executive Chairman of Telefónica de España; Gérard Kleisterlee, World President of Philips Electronic; Eric Licoys, Director General of Vivendi Universal; and Manuel Castells, Professor at the University of Berkeley (California). They will then carry out an assessment of the eEurope programme in progress and discuss the conclusions of experts. In addition to the approval of a summary report including the results of the debate with a view to the Barcelona Summit, the declared aim of the Spanish Presidency is to obtain political support and a mandate from the Commission to elaborate a new action plan, to be presented at the Seville Summit on 21 and 22 June.
Anna Birulés, Spanish Minister for Science and Technology, who will chair the meeting, spoke on Tuesday before the Spanish Senate about how "'important" it is to review the objectives of the eEurope action plan 2000-2002, with a view to its extension in the run up to 2005. "Opening a period of reflection in order to review it and improve it is a priority", she said, specifying that the Vitoria Council will be geared to assessment of the initiative as well as to the ways in which it can be improved, not only at the level of content but also form. It will set a direction for the new efforts. Ms Birulés also stressed the importance of technological convergence tending towards universality, in order to allow the development of the Information Society. Along the same lines, she recalled the importance of concluding international agreements in order to "potentialize" the EU market.