Informal Videoconference of Telecommunications and Digital Policy Ministers: Digitalisiation on the agenda

On 15 October 2020, ministers responsible for telecommunications and digital policy from EUmember states and the EFTA region will exchange views at an informal videoconference as part of Germany’s Council Presidency.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the informal meeting will not take place physically in Baden-Baden, as originally planned, but rather as a virtual meeting. The informal meeting will be chaired by German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier. Margrethe Vestager i, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age”, and Thierry Breton i, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, have also been invited to the meeting.

Peter Altmaier, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy:

We need momentum for growth in the EU if we are to leave this crisis behind us. To achieve this, we must press ahead with the digital transformation and strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty in order to maintain our competitiveness and harness the full potential for innovation that is offered by the European Single Market. This also means that we need good and efficient gigabit infrastructure and a clear framework. For this reason, we will be discussing two fields for which the European Commission has announced legislative proposals. These pertain to the framework for data use and for artificial intelligence. We will also discuss the design for an internal market in digital services.

Participants will exchange views on two important current topics related to digitalisation in the European Union: the data economy and the internal digital services market.