In her presentation, Neelie Kroes, the European Digital Agenda Commissioner emphasised that the Digital Single Market, which is emphasised in the Europe2020 strategy, must be inclusive and democratic. The Digital Single Market is an important economic opportunity for Europe to seize ; thus it is vital that Europe remains competitive in the digital area whose scope is much broader than only ICTs. The Commission is in the process of producing an Action Plan that will contain 101 actions in 7 areas, as well as 31 pieces of legislation.
Ms Kroes said that her vision was holistic, meaning that demand and supply of digital services need to be stimulated. The Single European Payment Area (SEPA) will contribute to facilitating easier crossborder transactions and e-Commerce in general. The latter also still has a huge potential for creating jobs, however the sector needs to grow exponentially in order to achieve this and revitalise the economy. SMEs are particularly important to growth in this area as they can exploit crossborder opportunities. In the UK, e-Commerce was already worth 50 billion pounds annually.
Trust and security are other important issues that Ms Kroes brought up. Online rights and responsibilities remained somewhat unclear, and straightforward rules need to be established in order for more European consumers to make purchases online ; this also included protection against data fraud and other internet scams. Reliable e-identification and e-authorisation systems are essential to build up trust and make the debate less emotional. One key action was to provide information as effectively online as offline.
The Commission was also working on a framework Directive on collective rights’ management pertaining to pan-European licensing for online rights management that would benefit copyright holders as well as consumers and businesses. 2012 will also see a licensing review. At the same time, illegal audiovisual content will be combated.
Another aim is to have basic broadband access in place for all EU citizens by 2013, followed by fast broadband for all EU citizens and ’’ultra-fast’’ broadband by 2020. Since competition is crucial, especially given the strong Asian competition, the right infrastructure is needed to be provided to stimulate innovation and digital literacy ; next generation access networks (NGAs) are required. The European Investment Bank is interested in funding digital initiatives, and the Commission also advised national governments to channel funds into digital initiatives. All this would also stimulate further e-government and e-learning activities.
Commissioner Kroes then talked about high roaming charges for mobile devices, and how they affect consumers who are often charged many times the amount they would pay at home when they cross borders. Speed was also an issue. Negotiations to improve this situation were slow but her DG is in the process of reviewing the roaming regulation. The EU is hoping to find a mutually acceptable solution with mobile phone providers.
The Commission is also creating a virtual digital assembly for multi-stakeholder dialogue, which is to assess progress on the Digital Agenda.
Health was only mentioned once during the session, and that was during the subsequent discussion in response to a question about how to address the growing digital divide. Commissioner Kroes underlined that internet skills will become more and more important for everybody, and European programmes like Erasmus were helping in spreading skills and knowledge across borders. Moreover, older people could also benefit from computers because they give them the opportunity to lead independent lives, and also to access a growing number of eHealth services.
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Quelle/Source: European Public Health Alliance, 06.12.2010
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