Report on monitoring eEurope adopted
A report backing the multi-annual programme for the monitoring of eEurope, dissemination of good practices and the improvement of network and information security (MODINIS) was adopted by the European Parliament's Committee on industry and research on 23 January. In response to the EU's Lisbon objective of becoming the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010, the Commission adopted a proposal, in July 2002, for the establishment of MODINIS, a three year funding programme (2003-2005) with a budget of 25 million euro. As well as monitoring performance of Member States within the eEurope Action Plan, the programme looks to identify best practice; analyse economic and societal consequences of the information society; improve network security and foster the development of broadband rollout. The report, drafted by UK MEP, Imelda Read, makes several amendments to the Commission's original proposal. In particular, the report stresses the need to improve the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a view to providing more information for European citizens and in turn increasing their participation in the democratic process. The report cites two specific ways that such objectives can be achieved: - Making direct audiovisual transmissions of the public meetings of the European Union institutions and their bodies and archiving them on the Internet; - Ensuring that all citizens can use the Internet to exercise their rights as European citizens to the full. For example, with regard to voting MEPs, complaining to the European Ombudsman, appealing to the Court of Justice and petitioning Parliament. With strong concerns about digital exclusion, special consideration is also given to the participation of disadvantaged groups such as women, disabled and elderly people and the unemployed in the information society. To enable comparison of data for monitoring and benchmarking, the report advises candidate countries and Member States to work closely with a view to developing a common methodology. Similarly, closer cooperation is called for with the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey in order to diminish the risks of digital divide after the enlargement of the European Union. Finally, the report urges the establishment of a cyber security task force, as proposed under the eEurope 2005 Action Plan, and calls for the budget to be maintained at 25 million euro. The MODINIS programme will be discussed further at the Parliament's plenary session on 11 February.