Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission noted that Digital Decade rules have come into force to help the EU on its path to digital transformation.
Under the framework, EU bodies will jointly set targets and objectives aimed at improving digital skills, infrastructure, online public services and digitalisation of businesses, the EC pointed out in a statement on Monday.
Through cooperating with the EU Council, Commission and Parliament, bloc members will reshape their digital policies to reach digitalisation milestones by 2030.
According to the EC, objectives of the programme are to create a competitive online environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), improve cybersecurity and access to digital opportunities, and develop sustainable innovations.
The Commission stressed that Digital Decade objectives will guide EU member states and the EC will assess their progress in annual reports.
The EC pointed out that a new body, the Digital Decade Board, will “reinforce cooperation between the Commission and member states on digital transformation issues.”
EC to pick targets
The Commission is to set targets in the coming months as well as “develop projected EU trajectories” for each bloc member.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, stated “with the monitoring mechanism we now have concrete goals for how to make digital technology work for all people and for businesses.”
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, stressed the importance of adopting new rules to control digitalisation. “To achieve this, we must prioritise the development of highly-skilled engineers, increased connectivity across the continent, and improved infrastructure for our SMEs,” he added.
According to Breton, the EC will cooperate with EU member states and focus on key technologies to achieve autonomy and resilience by 2030.
EU member states are to draw up their national strategies in nine months to list and describe policies and measures they plan to introduce to achieve targets. The EC is to release annual reports to assess, update and make recommendations on bloc members’ progress towards objectives.
The EC pointed out that EU member states will join forces to implement more ambitious projects and reach targets, stressing that multi-country projects will largely focus on 5G, digitalisation of public administration, quantum computing and more.
