18/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - With the opening of the work of the "e-Skills Summit 2002", on 17 and 18 October in Copenhagen, Employment Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou stressed the spectacular development of Internet systems in Europe since the Lisbon Summit. She spoke of a real explosion, saying: "Internet penetration has exploded in Europe. From 18% in March 2000 to around 40% today. 90% of our schools and business are now connected. Governments are slowly but surely moving on-line". Nonetheless, despite such exceptional progress, Anna Diamantopoulou warned that huge gaps exist, and that these must be carefully managed to avoid the "digital divide". Gaps are caused by the fact that: - Internet penetration is still unevenly distributed across Europe, with a clear north-south divide; - high-income earners are three times as likely to have web access than people on a low income; - schools may well be connected but we need more PCs, and the Internet needs to be mainstreamed into classroom learning; and - only 1 in every 3 workers has had digital training.