Brussels, 29/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, in response to the appeal by Heads of State and Governments at the Barcelona Summit, the European Commission finally adopted a new Action Plan entitled "eEUROPE 2005: An information society for all". More structured than its predecessor eEUROPE 2002, the new Action Plan aims to provide a favourable environment for private investment and for the creation of new jobs, to boost productivity, to modernise public services and notably education, and last but not least to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the global information society.
"eEUROPE 2005 focuses on the "connectivity" of the Internet in the EU and the Commission believes that this constitutes a crucial step towards the 'Lisbon goal' of turning Europe into the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010 on a vast front by doubling the number of homes connected to the Internet and the launching of the fastest research backbone network in the world. The Commission expects that eEUROPE 2005 will help it continue its action in this area but at a far more rapid pace and will concentrate on translating this into improved economic productivity and better, more accessible services for all European citizens. eEUROPE 2005 to be presented to the Seville European Council this June, has set out the following main goals to be attained throughout Europe by 2005: The Action Plan has two groups of actions On the one hand services, applications and content, covering both online public services and e-business. On the other hand the underlying broadband infrastructure and security matters. By 2005 Europe should have: modern online public services, particularly e-government, e-learning and e-health, a dynamic e-business environment. Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society explained that, "Each of these priorities is inter-related with the others…The widespread availability of broadband access, for example, requires the appearance of new services and content ranging from e-government and e-health to entertainment. But many of these new services require the 'always on' nature and speed of broadband, as well as better security. We also need to see Internet access 'beyond the PC', that is, including for example digital television and third-generation mobile communications. This 'multi-platform' approach requires the involvement of industries as varied as consumer electronics, mobile telephony and broadcasting. So although most services should be provided by the market, a range of issues must be tackled together to create a more favourable investment environment."
A number of initiatives will address both sides of 'demand and supply' equation simultaneously actions on e-government, e-health, e-learning and e-business, for example, will foster the development of new services, as will the targeted use of purchasing power by public authorities. On the supply side, meanwhile, a number of actions focusing on broadband and security, such as the establishment of a Cyber-Security TaskForce and activities in less favoured regions, should advance the roll-out of infrastructure.
eEUROPE 2005 will follow the approach pioneered in eEUROPE 2002: defining clear targets and benchmarking progress towards them, co-ordinating and accelerating the adoption of new legal measures, and re-orienting existing programmes towards these priorities. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on identifying and promoting good practices and on overall co-ordination. The action plan sets out how a wide range of EU programmes, such as the structural funds (see EUROPE yesterday page 11), the forthcoming e-learning programme and eTEN, could be used to reach the objectives. From 2004 onwards the list of indicators will also serve as a basis for the Candidate Countries.
The Commission considers that eEUROPE 2005 represents huge potential in terms of higher business productivity, improved education and healthcare but that it will not realise this goal if an information society for all in Europe is not created or "if anyone is left behind". For this reason, all eEUROPE 2005 action lines aim to improve 'e-inclusion' to open up opportunities for everyone, enhance skills, and ensure that the Information Society is accessible to people with special needs and those not familiar with a PC.