Brussels, 06/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - Speaking at a conference on "The Lisbon Strategy as a Driver in the TIC Sector" at the offices of the TransEuropean Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) in Luxembourg on 3 December, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the information society and media, underlined that Europe's competitiveness in the area of technology was indispensable if the objectives of Lisbon were to be attained. Despite the positive steps, the progress so far achieved had fallen short of the Lisbon objectives, particularly in the areas of research, education, and competitiveness, explained the Commissioner, who wanted to see improvements if Europe was not going to miss the "2010 rendezvous". The Commission promised to set about the five major challenges identified in the Kok report: build a knowledge-based society, a particularly important recommendation heading the list of priority action because, "it has been clearly established that information and communication technologies are a powerful driving force of economic and social progress". Reding affirmed that the European Union had made significant progress: liberalisation of the telecommunications market had had positive effects for consumers, the widespread use of the internet and the blossoming of on-line services, as well as the development of broad band mobile communications. 40% of Europe's productivity increase since the second half of the 1990s resulted from use of new information technology, an increase that is well below results in the USA where this percentage stands at 60%. The contribution of information technology to growth has been twice as much in the US as in Europe.
The Commissioner has set out five major priorities for coming months: 1) adoption of a new strategy that will take over after the "eEUROPE 2005" action plan; an action which will demand quality electronic networks that are secure and broad band; 2) the effective application of the new Community regulatory framework for electronic communication in order to guarantee healthy market competition; 3) continued and strengthened information and communication technology research so that Europe remains in step with progress in this area; 4) development of new regulation for audio-visual content; 5) support for production and distribution of quality European content for supporting new technology and traditional media and cultural diversity. The Commissioner is also highlighting the fight against the digital division and other gaps where it is essential to fill in Europe.