Brussels, 03/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - Three years after its launch, the .eu top-level internet domain continues to be a success. There are now more than three million internet domains under Europe's own top-level domain. Even the financial crisis has not stopped this growth: the number of .eu domains increased by 2% during the first quarter of 2009, and .eu was firmly entrenched as the fifth most popular country code top-level domain worldwide. By promoting a distinctly European online identity, .eu can help citizens and businesses reap the full benefits of Europe's single market. Multinational companies, SMEs, NGOs, think tanks and citizens have adopted .eu to mark their web presence and last month, Sweden made a symbolic gesture by being the first member state to adopt ".eu" for its official website dedicated to the Presidency of the European Union that will start on 1 July: http://www.se2009.eu .
"I welcome the fact that Sweden has decided to choose a .eu domain for their presidency of the European Union that will start on 1 July. This is an encouraging sign which will hopefully be followed by many presidencies in the future," said Viviane Reding, the EU's commissioner for information society and media. "This also shows that .eu, which celebrates its third birthday today, is becoming the natural choice for anyone seeking a European online identity."
Most .eu domains have been registered in the EU countries with the largest populations and highest internet take-up as a proportion of population. Germany continues to lead with 30%, followed by the Netherlands (14%), the United Kingdom (12%), France (8%) and Poland (6%). (L.C./transl.fl)