European languages should have greater presence on the Web, says Commission
Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, pushed for more European digital content on the Internet this week and called for it to have more linguistic diversity. The Commission's adoption of a proposal supporting these measures this week is a recognition that a significant percentage of Web content is currently produced in the USA and consequently mostly in English. Mr Liikanen claimed that European digital content in a variety of different European languages was what was really needed, as this would provide a stimulus for European companies to become more involved. Commenting on the proposal, Mr Liikanen said: 'We should turn Europe's rich content base into a competitive advantage in the Information Society and ensure that European operators get a more prominent place on the Internet.' The approval of the proposal means that it now replaces the two previous Community programmes 'INFO2000' and 'MLIS' (Multilingal Information Society).