Why a new Digital Agenda? Did previous European strategies fail at least in part to meet their objectives of liberalising electronic communications, disseminating digital technologies in other sectors and so on?

This is the first time that the Commission has launched such a comprehensive and horizontal strategy. Unlike previous ICT (information and communication technologies) strategies, this flagship of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy is not a sectoral policy. The maturity of ICT and its enabling nature requires a broader focus, which cuts across all policy fields and draws on the full range of Commission services. This doesn’t mean previous strategies were wrong, it simply means we need to do more and to adjust our policies to changing technological, economic and societal realities. The Digital Agenda for Europe is the right strategy to meet the challenges of the next few years.

We need a “new” digital agenda because ICTs surround us at every moment of the day: in the car, in business meetings or just watching television at home. ICTs change the way we live, work, do business and interact with other people. The internet has caused the same revolutionary effect that the development of electricity and transportation networks had in previous centuries. In Europe, we have made great progress in terms of first-generation broadband and mobile take-up. But we risk falling behind on new challenges, such as ultra-high speed and wireless broadband. Unfortunately, building these networks is not an overnight exercise. It takes years of careful preparation and planning as well as extensive amounts of capital. Moreover, the private sector is not very keen yet on investing in high-speed broadband networks. The Digital Agenda for Europe aims at stimulating investment in high-speed broadband networks by the private sector, so that Europe catches up with its major world competitors.

My view is that it is not sufficient to simply draw up five or ten-year plans. We would be letting down all EU citizens if we just sat back and waited for the problems to solve themselves. Technology does not stand still – we must respond and lead effectively. The Digital Agenda for Europe aims to make sure that the necessary conditions exist so that nobody is excluded from the digital world and that all citizens and businesses can benefit from digital technologies.

The agenda’s scope is vast. What do you see as the top priorities to be achieved by 2015?

The Digital Agenda programme commits us to 100 actions, including 31 proposals for legislation. It is indeed a huge programme to get every European ‘digital’.

Every part of this action plan is aimed at maximising the potential of ICTs. And there are so many parts because unless you tackle the whole range of issues, it is very hard to successfully address any of them. Also, we have set specific targets and deadlines for implementation of the 100 actions.

For example, we would like over the next five years to halve the percentage of Europeans who have never used the internet from 30% to 15%. That is a massive job – that means getting 75 million people online, which is about 10,000 new internet users every single day.

The Commission is also working with national and regional authorities and businesses to ensure that by 2013 all European citizens can have basic broadband access to internet, and that by 2020 everyone can have access to high-speed internet of 30 Mbps or above. By 2020, we are also aiming to have 50% or more of European households subscribing to ultra-fast internet of above 100 Mbps.

Is the Commission lagging seriously behind the United States and Asia in terms of competitiveness and innovation? Why isn’t Europe producing success stories like Google and Facebook?

Europe is a hive of creative entrepreneurs and researchers. We are clearly great at ideas, but Europe sometimes fails to commercialise its discoveries in the area of ICTs. Europe has a clear industrial and technology lead in essential areas, such as telecommunications equipment and services. For instance, every mobile phone in the world contains chips based on designs first developed in EU-funded research projects. Those mobile phones transfer data using international communications standards — GSM and 3G — which were developed by EU-funded research and promoted through numerous European policy initiatives and legislation. Europe is also leading the way in embedded computing systems, business software, photonics and industrial robotics as well as specialised nano-electronic components. What is more, Europe has very strong technological and creativity assets and we know of many successful online businesses which originated in Europe. Of course, Europe could do much better if the conditions here were more favourable to innovation and to the growth of small businesses. This would require the establishment of a digital single market, the roll-out of an improved and secure broadband infrastructure, better access to venture capital, the stimulation of innovation through new business models and the development of new applications, as well as the reinforcement of research efforts.

That is why the European Commission, through the Digital Agenda for Europe, is committed to addressing these issues. The establishment of a fully functioning digital single market by 2015 is a key objective of the Digital Agenda. We are going to encourage close cooperation of the public sector and industry to make sure that European research is demand and user-driven. In addition, we are going to establish public-private partnerships in areas like future internet, ‘green’ cars, factories of the future and energy-efficient buildings. In this way, we will attract more private investment into research and development. Finally, the Commission will financially support open platforms and standards for new products and services. We are confident that these efforts will encourage innovation in Europe, particularly in areas where we are lagging behind. Eventually, this will ensure that our economy remains competitive in global markets.

The Commission is counting on optical fibre to promote ultra-fast internet. Is it keeping an eye on the sometimes dominant positions of the former state monopolies?

Of course, the Commission takes this into account. To meet the Digital Agenda objectives, it is essential that newer companies have the access and incentives they need to enter the market and increase the level of competition. In this way, established players will also be motivated to invest and innovate. However, at the same time we need to give due recognition to the risks taken by companies that have already made major investments in fibre networks, or are planning to do so. In our recommendation on next-generation access (NGA) networks, due in September, we will set out guidelines on how national regulators should strike this balance – between the need to create incentives for investment and safeguarding effective competition across the EU. Consistency across member states will be crucial in accelerating the investment and innovation that the EU needs.

‘Digital Europe’ requires massive investments. How do you plan to fund them in this period of tight public support and bank finance?

I agree that public sector organisations are currently under huge pressure regarding their budgets. But both the European Union and member states acknowledge the role of ICTs in achieving economic growth and development. In recent years, investment in ICTs has been responsible for 50% of Europe’s productivity growth. ICTs are also the means to achieve so many other policy objectives. Better use of ICTs can mean lower carbon emissions, better value for health care, less money wasted on red tape, and so on. I think member states recognise all these possibilities and are committed to invest the necessary funds to achieve our common digital goals.

At the same time, investment in R&D is essential to make sure that ICTs can meet the challenges of tomorrow’s world. The Commission supports R&D in ICTs by allocating it the biggest portion of funds under its 7th Framework Programme from 2007 to 2013 - about €9 billion. Member states have made the commitment to double their total annual spending to €11 billion by 2020. I therefore believe that the joint efforts of the European Commission and the member states will help achieve our R&D goals, thus keeping us on track with our global competitors.

Technologies certainly create jobs by producing new products and equipping many other sectors, but they also destroy jobs, for example in the print media, music and audiovisual, transport and the like. What’s the solution, for instance on protection of copyright?

According to some analysts, achieving a true digital single market could alone boost the Europe’s GDP by 4% (some €500 billion) over ten years. But it is true that with varying legislation across 27 member states, market fragmentation is the main reason why consumers still cannot enjoy competitive prices and a much wider range of choice in a digital single market. Consumers can buy CDs in every music shop across Europe, but they are often unable to download music online legally from another EU country because rights are licensed on a country-by-country basis. Such fragmentation means that there are four times as many legal music downloads in the US as in the EU.

Such barriers need to be tackled. To achieve a true digital single market, the Commission intends to open up access to legal online content by simplifying copyright clearance, for example. By 2011, the Commission will propose a framework directive on collective rights management to enhance the governance, transparency and pan-European licensing for online rights management. With the right legal support, digital technologies could offer new platforms for artists to reach both bigger and more targeted audiences. Additionally when content is created for multiple platforms, many different contributors benefit - be they musicians, web designers, graphic designers or retailers.

Other actions include making electronic payments and invoicing easier, completing existing projects like the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and creating an EU-wide online dispute resolution system for e-commerce transactions, so that consumers and providers know where to go if things go wrong. This also means that Europe needs to face its growing ICT skills shortage and. improve basic digital literacy.