Brussels, 09/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The last "Transport/Telecommunications/Energy Council" to be held under the Irish Presidency will start its work on Thursday morning, with an examination of the agenda items referring to the plank on the information society. Council insiders are expecting the EU Telecommunications Ministers to reach political agreement on the "eContentplus" programme and a "general orientation"- as there is no European Parliament opinion- on the programme to make the Internet a safer place. Although on the eve of the meeting, there seemed to be no problems on the substance, things are still not settled. In both cases, indeed, ministers must overcome their disagreements on the financial envelope for the programmes. The Council should then have no problems adopting conclusions on the implementation of the eEurope programme for 2005.
The proposed decision "establishing a multi-annual Community programme (2005-2008) to make European digital content more accessible, more useable and more exploitable" (eContentplus) was presented by the European Commission on 13 February 2004 (see EUROPE of 19 February, p.16). The proposed programme, the aim of which is to ensure continuity once the eContent programme expires, will support the development of multilingual content to feed into innovative on-line services throughout the EU. More targeted than its predecessor, it aims to promote the combining of information originating from different systems, independently of format, language and locality. This means that content can be distributed via different platforms, and is better adapted to the specific needs of the users. The programme will focus on three types of information: geographic data, educational material and cultural content. The Commission feels that its adoption should help to overcome the fragmentation of the European content market.
Although an agreement in principle on the programme was already in place on the substance within Council bodies, Ministers are still to set the programme's financial envelope. Delegations are presently divided into two groups: the countries which could agree to a figure of around 145 million EUR, as a compromise, and those which feel that an envelope of 130 million EUR would be more appropriate. In its proposal, the Commission recommends a budget of 163 million.
There is a similar problem with the proposed decision instituting a multi-annual Community programme to promote safer use of the Internet and new on-line technology ("Safer Internet Plus") (see EUROPE of 16 March, p.14). On the eve of the Council, several Member States continued to exhibit reservations on the compromise proposed by the Irish Presidency of a financial envelope of 45 million EUR, whereas the others stuck to their guns on keeping the budget recommended by the Commission (50 million). The European Commission has also issued a general reservation on the Irish Presidency's proposed compromise on the management committee procedure (comitology) and the financial envelope. "Safer Internet Plus" is to replace the current safe Internet programme (1999-2004), which expires at the end of the year.
This programme helped to set up a European network of direct lines, encouraged self-regulation and codes of conduct, supported the development of filtering and classification systems and promoted awareness measures. Its successor aims at continuity. The Commission recommends four areas of action: the fight against illegal content, the treatment of unwanted and harmful content, promoting a safer environment and awareness.
The Council is also to adopt conclusions based on the recent Commission communication on updating the action plan eEurope, and on national strategies to develop the use of broadband in the EU (see EUROPE of 12 May, p.10). These conclusions will stress that it is important for the Member States to maintain their commitment to implement the action plan eEUROPE 2005. They also recommend the extension of national broadband strategies to the whole of the enlarged EU by the end of the year.
Lastly, the Council is to adopt the list of full and alternate members representing the three interest groups (ICT sector, consumers and university experts) represented on the board of the European Network and Information Security Agency (see EUROPE of 5 June, p.14).