Alexandru Petrescu, Romanian Minister of Communications and Information Society, presented the priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the UE in the ITRE Committee

Alexandru Petrescu, Minister of Communications and Information Society, presented on Wednesday, 23rd of January, the priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union on Digital Single Market in the plenary of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament.

In this context, the Minister of Communications reaffirmed the commitment of the Romanian Presidency to promote the European Union’s interests in the development of the Digital Single Market and underlined the importance of working with the Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament to advance the negotiations on the legislative files in place to strengthen the Digital Single Market.

Under the motto “A digital Europe without frontiers and undergoing transformation”, Minister Petrescu reiterated Romania’s priorities in the digital domain, cyber security, innovation, digital competences and increasing the number of women in the field of information technology and presented the major events which will be organized during the six months of the mandate.

“I presented today, in the plenary of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the ambitious program of the Romanian Presidency on the Single Digital Market. I assure you that ensuring a high level of digitization and competitiveness of the European Union is an essential priority of the Romanian Presidency and as an honest broker, our intention is to support and advance the European project on the development of the Digital Single Market. We want Europe to become a global leader on all digital scales with positive impact on economic growth: 5G network development, artificial intelligence, cyber security, supercomputers, research and innovation and large data volumes”, said Alexandru Petrescu, Minister of Communications and Information Society.

On 22nd of January, Romania achieved its first success in the Single Digital Market area through the interim political agreement reached on the proposal for a directive on the re-use of public sector information. In particular, this legislation will contribute to European economic growth and both European citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit by reducing market entry barriers, by reducing taxes on the re-use of public sector information, increasing data availability and introducing new types of public data.

“By increasing the use, development and diffusion of advanced technologies, by supporting entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity, we will accelerate Europe’s development capacity in the interest of the economy and European citizens”, said Alexandru Petrescu, Communications Minister.