Digitale markt - drijfveer voor Europa's competentie (en)

President Dalia Grybauskaitė i met with the Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes i. The meeting focused on key tasks of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council in building digital market, as well as preparations for one of the major events to be held during Lithuania's Presidency this coming November in Vilnius - Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013).

"The digital space is becoming a significant part of our life. European citizens spend increasingly more time on the Internet, including creating business. The EU digital market continues to rema in fragmented though. Removal of barriers in this market would save time, promote and facilitate business creation and reduce costs of doing business, make services cheaper and add jobs," the President said.

According to the President, an overall objective of the EU is to have a fully functioning digital market in 2015. It would serve to promote Europe's economic growth and competitiveness. Implementation of the digital agenda will be discussed at a European Council meeting at the end of October.

The President underlined that in the digital era it was also crucial to address new emerging threats - cyber attacks. Damage caused by these can be exceptionally grave; therefore it is necessary to work towards enhancing information security. Among the Lithuanian EU Presidency tasks is to seek greater progress in negotiating the proposed Cyber Security Directive which will help ensure a safe and secure electronic space.

Other top priorities include the completion, by the end of this year, of negotiations with the European Parliament on guidelines for the development of trans-European Networks for Telecommunications until 2020 (TEN-TELE), and the opening of talks regarding the framework for e-identification at European level to promote effective virtual services, e-business and trade across the EU.

The digital agenda for Europe aims to give a new impetus to European economy and to benefit citizens by increasing confidence in the Internet safety, developing digital skills, as well as ensuring faster access and due protection of data.