European Commission

Are you one of the 40% of Europeans who purchases online each year?

If so you’re probably aware of the benefits of doing so – but also of some disadvantages. Online shopping and services can mean better choice, easier to use, easier to compare prices: all in all, better value for consumers. But some will worry about issues like, how can I pay for my product safely? If it’s a physical product, will it be delivered in time (and intact)? And what do I do if there’s a problem with the order? Others, unable to find the content they want lawfully, may turn to illegal content.

(L-R) Myself, Commr Barnier, Commr Dalli launching the e-Commerce action plan

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A magyar szöveg – itt (PDF itt). For Hungarian text – read here.
(*Please feel free to reproduce this post in part or in full for your own website or publication, with attribution of the author)

Over recent weeks serious questions have been asked by the European Commission about 30 new laws in Hungary, including a major constitutional revision, and these concerns continue. These laws have passed against the backdrop of a media law adopted in late 2010, which was found by the European Commission to put fundamental rights at risk, and by the Hungarian courts to breach the Hungarian constitution.

The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights clearly states that “the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected,” and the EU has always stood up for media freedom and pluralism. Both the European Commission and I have defended press freedom and fundamental rights from the outset of the intense debate in Hungary over a year ago.

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Small device... important data

In one of my recent posts I wrote about the need for fast broadband connections in Europe. We need more and better broadband access to deliver the digital agenda and get every European Digital. And we need to know more about the current state of the market – so we’re looking for volunteers across Europe!

Over recent years, we have made good progress in terms of broadband take-up; advertised average speeds have also gone up. But what about “real” broadband speeds? Many times I hear people say they upgraded their broadband connection to a “faster” product  - but then can’t notice any difference between one and another. But then, what’s the point in paying a more expensive monthly fee? Read the full entry

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It’s my dream to get Every European Digital. And that means everyone needs to be covered by fast broadband connections.

The economic benefits are clear: increasing broadband penetration by just 10 percentage points can boost GDP by 0.9 – 1.5%. But we face problems in delivering new networks: insufficient investment, problems in accessing capital, and a weak business case for operators to roll out everywhere. And we also face difficulty in making online public services available across Europe.

So the European Commission has today proposed a boost which could leverage total broadband investment between €50 and €100 billion, and will also provide funding for pan-European digital public services. Read the full entry

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Me meeting Romanian President Traian Băsescu

I’m just back from a very interesting visit to Bucharest, where the focus was on Romania’s development as a digital society.

While there, I gave a speech to the first-ever Romanian Digital Agenda conference, setting out the main messages of the Agenda relevant to Romania. Issues like broadband investment, open data, and e-government were at the forefront of my mind. I also had the opportunity to talk to the President, Prime Minister, and the Minister for Communications and Information Society, and the national regulator. We talked about the importance of getting every European Digital, and the challenges faced by Romania in particular.  Read the full entry

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It has been 1 year since I launched the Digital Agenda for Europe so it’s the perfect opportunity to tell you how we are delivering on our targets. I’ve made open data publicly available online about how the EU is performing.

I’m happy that overall progress is good. The Scoreboard shows that more and more Europeans are using the internet. 65% of citizens now use it at least weekly so we are nearing our target of 75% by 2015. Activities that usually are carried out offline are increasingly performed online. For example, one third of citizens now use internet banking and read the news online. The numbers of EU citizens shopping online and making use of public online services is also on the rise. In terms of getting Every European Digital, this is already a great achievement.

But there is still work to be done. 95% of Europeans now have access to broadband internet infrastructure. But that still leaves a lot of people – 10 million households, in fact – who we are still to reach to deliver our 2013 target.  So I’m still concerned about how are we going to deliver broadband for all. I am confident that we can reach our goal but we need to be open-minded and creative about the solutions. Terrestrial or satellite wireless networks for instance can step in where landline solutions become too expensive to cover large, rural areas.

There is a lot of food for thought in the Scoreboard and its implications will be further discussed in Brussels on June 16-17 at the Digital Agenda Assembly. And to all the data fans: you can play around with the data sets and statistics in the Scoreboard to carry out your own analysis and conclusions. Let me know what you come up with.

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Two important consultations are now live. First, we are asking citizens and businesses and other interested parties consultation on how can we guarantee access to communications services in the digital era. The key question is: are our rules appropriate for the digital age? Should they be expanded to cover broadband access, for example? The consultation will run until 7 May 2010.

Separately the Commission is asking for views on use of Radio Spectrum 2010-2015, between now and 9 April. Your views will feed into a ‘Spectrum Summit’ held jointly with the European Parliament 22-23 March. Many of our most widely used technologies depend on fair spectrum access – the question is what is most fair and effective?

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