Progress being made in eEurope - Liikanen
Europe remains on track to achieve the goals of eEurope, despite the recent new economy downturn, said Information society and enterprise Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen on 1 February. He re-emphasised the goals of eEurope, being a cheaper, faster more secure internet, investment in people and skills, acceleration of electronic commerce and promotion of both new applications in key areas and European content on the internet. Mr Liikanen said that a 'readjustment' in the new economy was to be expected as some dot com businesses had been overvalued and that, despite this happening in the new economy, progress had been made in eEurope. He highlighted that now 28 per cent of European homes are internet connected, a rise of a third in the last six months and that mobile phone penetration has reached 60 per cent, increasing by 50 per cent in 2000. On an operational level, Mr Liikanen pointed out that eEurope meant that the information society was being discussed at the top level of 'political, legislative, economic and societal' areas. This had helped in improving the speed of making legislative decisions on key subjects, such as the local loop, legal frameworks for internet privacy and the internal market for e-commerce. In addition, programmes such as the upgrade of the transEuopean research network have already begun, as well as adoption of the eContent programme which supports the development of European content for the internet. The next significant stage in eEurope's development will be the Stockholm summit of EU leaders in March. 'Europe is now on the right tracks to rapidly become an e-Europe. But we have not yet won this game,' said Mr Liikanen.