Commission adopts eEurope 2005 action plan
The European Commission adopted a new action plan on 29 May to give all Europeans the opportunity to participate in the global information society. The eEurope 2005 action plan aims to provide a favourable environment for private investment and job creation as well as boosting productivity, modernising public services and education, and opening up the benefits of new information and communication technologies to society as a whole. Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said: 'eEurope 2005 is a crucial step towards the 'Lisbon goal' of turning Europe into the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010. It represents a focusing of our activities on those areas where public authorities can improve the environment for investment and ensure that the benefits of the information society are felt by all Europeans in the years to come.' Whereas the earlier eEurope 2002 action plan focuses on extending Internet connectivity across Europe, eEurope 2005 will concentrate on translating this into improved economic productivity and better, more accessible services underpinned by a secure and widely available broadband infrastructure, says the Commission. It describes the latest plan as more focused, providing two mutually reinforcing planks of action - services, content and applications and broadband infrastructure and security. The plan states that by the year 2005, Europe should have: - modern online public services, particularly e-government, e-learning and health; - a dynamic e-business environment; - widespread availability of broadband access at competitive prices; - a secure information infrastructure. 'Each of these priorities is interlinked with the other,' commented Mr Liikanen. 'The widespread availability of broadband access, for example, requires the appearance of new services and content ranging from e-government and e-health to entertainment. But many of these services require the 'always on' nature and speed of broadband, as well as better security.' Internet access must extend 'beyond the PC,' he added, to platforms such as digital television and 3G mobile phones. eEurope 2005 will build on the approach taken by eEurope 2002 by accelerating the adoption of new legal measures and re-orienting existing programmes towards the priorities set out in the action plan. More emphasis will be placed on identifying and benchmarking good practice and on overall coordination. Mr Liikanen added that the plan aims to improve 'e-inclusion' by ensuring that everyone, including those with special needs and those not familiar with computers, benefits from the opportunities offered by the information society.