“Today, one main question: How to restore Europe's online leadership. Lives have gone digital—so the single market must go truly digital too”. President Herman Van Rompuy’s summit opening in October is unlikely to rival other European Council defining catch-phrases (such as the Iron Lady’s “I want my money back”) but could have far more significant impact in Europe and beyond.
October’s Digital Summit in Brussels brought together representatives of the 28 Member States and a plethora of political families to agree on completing a Single European Digital Market by 2015, which aims to increase GDP by 5 percent and create 3.8 million new jobs.
Will President Van Rompuy’s opening words to the first “Digital” European Council materialise within such a short timeframe, and in a highly volatile economic and political environment? Will it resonate with a disillusioned European electorate? There are, as expected, two schools of thought emerging from the Brussels beltway. Let's start with the pessimistic school.
Short-term national interests continue to plague the single market. In practically every key sector there are examples of incomplete markets from national support to energy champions, to barriers being created in financial services or technology. Lessons learned from the failed Lisbon Strategy of March 2000, which sought to establish Europe, within ten years, as the “leading knowledge economy”, have not been properly applied. A laundry list of national obstacles remain, despite the recognition that Europe’s digital potential “is currently held back by a patchy pan-European policy framework”. Ironically, such patchy pan-European examples are used by Eurosceptic parties to demonstrate that Europe is not working but they conveniently overlook the non or incorrect “implementation” at national or local levels. In such a context, there are some in Brussels who ask if the Digital Summit has only succeeded in producing more empty statements, and that we shouldn’t believe in the commitments made.
Moreover, on the 21st of October, the European Parliament’s lead drafting committee at last adopted its Report on the Data Protection Regulation—which has met with disappointment across the board. According to the European Small Business Alliance it harms their members, and likewise for the larger tech companies—represented by Digital Europe—it is said that the parliament’s current proposal will “tie up businesses in Europe in red tape and legal uncertainty, stifle the growing trend of data analytics, and drive innovation and jobs away from Europe”. This flagship piece of legislation for Europe’s digital future still has several hurdles to overcome, and hence the Digital Council modified its ambitions and called for adoption by 2015, rather than before the European elections of May 2014 which was the initial “deadline”.
As for the more optimistic school of thought, there are those that think that dedicating a European Council Summit to “digital” is surely symbolic, and that this sector will be truly embraced. There seems to be a political acceptance of the enabling role of the ICT sector to revolutionise efficiency and competitiveness and (finally) create a leading “knowledge economy”. For example, switching to cloud computing could not only reduce costs and pollution but could create, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a €250 billion business by 2020. McKinsey has also made the economic case for a digital revolution, stating that deploying Big Data software could save governments €150-300 billion annually, via better use of public money and improved tax receipts.
Those working in the industry also believe that, despite the political show of force around NSA spying, there is a degree of realism and pragmatism behind the scenes. This reduces the likelihood of rash political hay-making such as abandoning free trade negotiations with the United States. In response to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s criticism of fellow EU leaders’ “la-di-da, airy-fairy” perspectives on spying, Chancellor Angela Merkel kept a surprisingly low profile, and left the key sound bites to others. Europe’s leaders continue to seek consensus and progress.
James Lovegrove is the senior director of APCO Worldwide in Brussels.
Photo: European Union 2013 - European Parliament (cc).
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An EU Digital Single Market by 2015?
November 11, 2013
“Today, one main question: How to restore Europe's online leadership. Lives have gone digital—so the single market must go truly digital too”. President Herman Van Rompuy’s summit opening in October is unlikely to rival other European Council defining catch-phrases (such as the Iron Lady’s “I want my money back”) but could have far more significant impact in Europe and beyond.
October’s Digital Summit in Brussels brought together representatives of the 28 Member States and a plethora of political families to agree on completing a Single European Digital Market by 2015, which aims to increase GDP by 5 percent and create 3.8 million new jobs.
Will President Van Rompuy’s opening words to the first “Digital” European Council materialise within such a short timeframe, and in a highly volatile economic and political environment? Will it resonate with a disillusioned European electorate? There are, as expected, two schools of thought emerging from the Brussels beltway. Let's start with the pessimistic school.
Short-term national interests continue to plague the single market. In practically every key sector there are examples of incomplete markets from national support to energy champions, to barriers being created in financial services or technology. Lessons learned from the failed Lisbon Strategy of March 2000, which sought to establish Europe, within ten years, as the “leading knowledge economy”, have not been properly applied. A laundry list of national obstacles remain, despite the recognition that Europe’s digital potential “is currently held back by a patchy pan-European policy framework”. Ironically, such patchy pan-European examples are used by Eurosceptic parties to demonstrate that Europe is not working but they conveniently overlook the non or incorrect “implementation” at national or local levels. In such a context, there are some in Brussels who ask if the Digital Summit has only succeeded in producing more empty statements, and that we shouldn’t believe in the commitments made.
Moreover, on the 21st of October, the European Parliament’s lead drafting committee at last adopted its Report on the Data Protection Regulation—which has met with disappointment across the board. According to the European Small Business Alliance it harms their members, and likewise for the larger tech companies—represented by Digital Europe—it is said that the parliament’s current proposal will “tie up businesses in Europe in red tape and legal uncertainty, stifle the growing trend of data analytics, and drive innovation and jobs away from Europe”. This flagship piece of legislation for Europe’s digital future still has several hurdles to overcome, and hence the Digital Council modified its ambitions and called for adoption by 2015, rather than before the European elections of May 2014 which was the initial “deadline”.
As for the more optimistic school of thought, there are those that think that dedicating a European Council Summit to “digital” is surely symbolic, and that this sector will be truly embraced. There seems to be a political acceptance of the enabling role of the ICT sector to revolutionise efficiency and competitiveness and (finally) create a leading “knowledge economy”. For example, switching to cloud computing could not only reduce costs and pollution but could create, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a €250 billion business by 2020. McKinsey has also made the economic case for a digital revolution, stating that deploying Big Data software could save governments €150-300 billion annually, via better use of public money and improved tax receipts.
Those working in the industry also believe that, despite the political show of force around NSA spying, there is a degree of realism and pragmatism behind the scenes. This reduces the likelihood of rash political hay-making such as abandoning free trade negotiations with the United States. In response to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s criticism of fellow EU leaders’ “la-di-da, airy-fairy” perspectives on spying, Chancellor Angela Merkel kept a surprisingly low profile, and left the key sound bites to others. Europe’s leaders continue to seek consensus and progress.
James Lovegrove is the senior director of APCO Worldwide in Brussels.
Photo: European Union 2013 - European Parliament (cc).
