EU cities and regions offer to deliver Digital Single Market at local level
In a debate with Günther Oettinger i, the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, representatives of European cities and regions recalled on Tuesday the need to bridge the digital divide and to further apply digital technologies in education in order to guarantee the success of the Digital Single Market. Markku Markkula, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), emphasised the importance of involving the local and regional decision-makers in the implementation of the Digital Single Market, one of the top priorities of the European Commission.
According to the President Markku Markkula, the European Committee of the Regions is ready to play an active part as a strategic advisory partner in experimenting and implementing the Digital Single Market: "Back in our cities and regions, we can and we must perform better to deliver public services to our citizens. We are convinced that investing in e-government and e-participation will reinforce administrative performance and interaction with the citizens at city and regional levels. Secondly, it is also our role to imbed digital technologies in education as a tool and develop digital skills of the future generations to face what is called the Digital Turn." Commissioner Oettinger emphasized the crucial importance of the Digital Single Market for the competitiveness of the European economy and for the development of future digital services.
The CoR plenary session adopted on Tuesday two opinions related to the subject. The opinion on Digital Single Market strategy supports the European Commission's focus on improving the investment climate for digital networks, research and innovative businesses and emphasises the need to facilitate the connection of all areas to broadband services. Rapporteur Helma Kuhn-Theis (DE/EPP), member of Weiskirchen Municipal Council, said: "In the rural areas, in particular, there is often no market-driven development of high-speed broadband networks, so that the support options at European and national level need to be consistently further developed. Another issue of great importance is digital literacy and skills. As representatives of local and regional authorities, we are responsible for schools and educational institutions in many Member States. I therefore call on my colleagues to show the political will to ensure that the digital technologies and learning are rolled out throughout the curricula and across the entire educational system."
The opinion on the review of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive calls for extension of the scope of the directive to all kinds of service providers and for assessment of the country of origin principle. Rapporteur Jean-François Istasse (BE/PES), municipal councillor of Verviers, said: "Rapid changes in the way audiovisual media services are produced, distributed and accessed by consumers cannot but be an integral part of the Digital Single Market strategy. While a review of the rules governing such services is necessary, this should not be only market-driven. Due consideration must be given to the regional dimension of audiovisual services in order to promote cultural diversity and media pluralism, and to foster cross-border co-productions and local creative innovation within the EU."
The CoR is also preparing an opinion on the territorial impacts of the sharing economy and its new IT business models. This opinion is scheduled to be adopted in the December plenary session. In addition to that, the CoR will organize on 2 December 2015 a bench learning conference on the Digital Agenda focusing on its relevance to the local and regional level and the funding possibilities.
More information:
CoR draft opinion on Digital Single Market
CoR draft opinion on the review of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive
Contact:
Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 22822063