Swedish Presidency anxious to press on with IT developments
The establishment of the 'dot eu' top level domain name and the clarification of regulation in electronic communications formed the main planks of the speech of Swedish Minister for industry, employment and communications, Björn Rosengren to the European Parliament on 23 January. Addressing the Parliament's industry, external trade, research and energy committee, Mr Rosengren claimed that he hoped that 'dot eu' can become a reality during the Swedish Presidency. 'We welcome the opportunity to discuss with the European Parliament to see how we can work together to achieve this during our Presidency,' he said. In addition, he made reference to the inclusivity of the Swedish Presidency regarding IT developments. 'A central goal of both the Swedish IT policy and of eEurope is for everyone to be involved in the information society and to feel confident in using new technology. Secure economic communications and a well designed regulatory framework in the area of electronic communications can hep is meet these goals.' Making everyone part of this includes ensuring that the Commission's telecommunications regulations are uniformly applied throughout the Union. But there is no need to create a European supervisory authority, he said, calling this 'inappropriate'. Rather there needed to be a uniform application of regulations within a framework that recognised each market's individual characteristics. Also important is to adapt the telecommunications data protection directive to take account of technical developments, said Mr Rosengren. Referring to his goals at the forthcoming Council meetings in April and June, Mr Rosengren concluded: 'I am well aware that time is short but developments are proceeding at a tremendous pace and I am anxious to see the regulatory framework quickly installed in the Member States.'
Kraje
Sweden