8. eEUROPE 2002
(24334)
6407/03
COM(03) 66
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Commission Communication: e Europe 2002 Final Report.
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| Legal base: | —
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| Document originated: | 11 February 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament: | 7 March 2003
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| Department: | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration: | EM of 11 March 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None
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| To be discussed in Council: | 27 March 2003 Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared
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Background
8.1 The e Europe Action Plan was drawn up following the
March 2000 Lisbon European Council as part of the strategy to
transform the European economy. Its objective is to bring the
EU on-line as fast as possible. It targets three main areas:
- a cheaper, faster and securer internet;
- investing in people and skills; and
- stimulating use of the internet.
8.2 Within these three areas, it set 64 targets, allocated
between Community institutions, Member States, and the private
sector, all for completion by the end of 2002.
8.3 We have cleared three previous reports on the Action
Plan.[15] This is the
final report. Progress was monitored regularly through benchmarking,
as part of the open method co-ordination endorsed at the Lisbon
European Council.
The Government's view
8.4 The Minister for E-Commerce and Competitiveness (Mr
Stephen Timms) summarises the report and comments on it as follows:
"The report shows that eEurope 2002 has met almost all of
its 64 targets. Its approach of stimulating competition has produced
a continuous and substantial fall in prices over the last two
years. eEurope's success is a particularly impressive achievement
considering the recent difficulties the ICT[16]
sector has faced. The report recognises that this success would
not have been possible without the participation of a wide variety
of stakeholders, a view very much shared and promoted by the UK.
"As well as summarising the major achievements of the last
couple of years, notably the increase in internet connectivity
and agreement of legislative frameworks for electronic communications
and ecommerce, the report notes that there is still some
way to go to catch up with the USA, and deal with variations and
gaps in areas such as use of ICT in eBusiness, and eInclusion.
However, it states confidently that the new eEurope 2005 Action
Plan will provide the remedies, with its focus on increasing effective
use of the Internet through widespread availability of broadband.
"The report is based on benchmarking results across 23 indicators
of progress. Some of these — on Internet penetration and
access prices — feed up to the top measures of EU structural
reform. It is important to note that there are significant variations
in progress between Member States, with the Scandinavians and
the Netherlands ahead on most measures (joined for the most part
by the UK), and with Greece and Portugal trailing badly. By and
large, the results appear to be consistent with the recent international
benchmarking work done by the Office of the EEnvoy.
"Some highlights of the report (which does not cover measures
of telecoms competition and prices — already covered in
the Commission's recent 8th report on implementing the regulatory
framework):[17]
"— In 2002, more than half of European citizens
were regular Internet users.
- Europe has the fastest research network in the world (Géant),
connecting nearly all universities and research institutes.
- Internet connectivity of households increased from about 18%
in March 2000 to 43% in November 2002.
- Almost all large enterprises (with more than 250 employees)
and over 80% of all companies with more than 10 employees are
using the Internet.
- Internet connectivity of schools reached 93% in February 2002
and most Member States had either achieved or were on track to
reach the target of having all schools connected by end 2002.
- By November 2002, 23% of Internet users made purchases online
'frequently' or 'occasionally', compared with just 18.5% in October
2000.
- By mid 2002 more than 45% of companies in some sectors were
buying online.
- In October 2002, all Member States at least partly offered
all 20 basic public services (as defined by the Council) online;
the level of sophistication of these is increasing rapidly.
- In 2002, on average, 78% of EU medical general practitioners
were connected to the Internet (with 100% connected in the UK)."
Conclusion
8.5 The results of this Action Plan are surprisingly
encouraging. We thank the Minister for his summary and clear the
document.
15 (21346)
9097/00; see HC 23-xxix (1999-2000), paragraph 45 (15 November
2000); (22013) 14195/00; see HC 28-v (2000-01), paragraph 18 (7
February 2001) and (23259) 6107/02; see HC 152-xxvi (2001-02),
paragraph 13 (24 April 2002). Back
16 Information
Communications Technology. Back
17 (24061)
15227/02; see HC 63-xiv (2002-03), paragraph 2 (5 March 2003). Back
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