European Council Brussels Summit: Communications technologies
The new information and communication technologies have brought about fundamental changes in the structures and methods of production. Europe must adapt itself quickly to these developments and must control their consequences. Those economies which are the first to complete this transformation will have a significant competitive edge. The European Council, meeting in Brussels on 10-11 December 1993, strongly endorsed conclusions contained in the Commission's White Paper on Economic Renewal, with regard to the European infrastructure for information and communications. In consequence, the Council has requested that a report be prepared for its next meeting by a group of prominent persons, fully representative of all relevant industries in the Union, and of users and consumers, designated by the Council and the Commission, on specific measures to be considered by the Community and the Member States in the sphere of communication and information technologies. The report should examine: - The development and inter-operability of networks for the dissemination of information; - Trans-European basic services including databanks, electronic mail, interactive video and related technologies; - New applications. On the basis of this report, the Council will adopt an operational programme defining the precise procedures for action and the necessary means for its rapid implementation.