Brussels, 10/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 9 December, the Council of Ministers of the EU adopted the new programme for a "Safer Internet" to cover the period 2009-2013. In October, the European Parliament took position, by a very broad majority, in favour of the new programme, which was proposed by the European Commission on 28 February 2008 to improve on the previous programme, taking account of recent technological developments. "I welcome the fact that the Parliament and Council have approved the Commission's proposal so quickly, as this will enable us to respond to the legitimate concerns of parents and guarantee that young Europeans can discover new technologies in complete safety", commented the commissioner with responsibility for the media, Viviane Reding. The new programme is based on the highly positive results obtained by the previous version over the period 2005-2008, the objective of which was to protect children when using the internet. This time, its scope of action provides lines of conduct adapted to recent developments on the internet, such as social networks, blocks and instant messaging. The budget of €55 million will be divided up as follows: 48% to raise public awareness, 34% to fight illegal content and deal with harmful behaviour online, 10% to promote a safer online environment and 8% to establish a knowledge base.
Also on Tuesday 9 December, the European Commission published a new Eurobarometer study on the views of parents on the safer use of the internet by children. This revealed, amongst other things, that: 1) 75% of children aged between 6 and 17 years use the internet frequently and that 50% of 10-year-olds have a mobile phone; this number is constantly on the increase; 2) half of all parents who do not use the internet themselves have said that their children have access to on-line applications; 3) half of all parents said that they discuss their children's online activities with them. They also take precautionary measures, such as banning their children from giving out personal information over the internet (92%) or speaking to people they do not know (83%); 4) 59% of parents use filtering or control software. Those who do not use this type of equipment claim that they trust their children (64%) or that they do not know how to access them (14%); 5) 54% of parents said that they were worried that their children may become the subject of online bullying (on websites or via mobile telephone messages) and 60% that they may become the subject of online grooming. The Eurobarometer survey is available at http: //ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/eurobarometer (I.L./transl.fl)