ICT policies of the European Union: From an information society to eEurope. Trends and visions

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

Volumn 179, Issue , 2005, Pages 37-66

  Berleur, Jacques ^a   Galand, Jean Marc ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NAMUR   (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LIÈGE   (Belgium)

Author keywords

Action plan; Assessment; Benchmark; EEurope; European Commission; Information society; IS for all; People first; Policy; Social issues

Indexed keywords

EID: 84872078905     PISSN: 18684238     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1007/0-387-25588-5_4     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. History, Towards the Information Society, http://europa. eu. int/ISPCVbasics/i_history. html, updated on 02/03/01.
2. The Information Society Homepage, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/.
3. Commissioner from 1989 to 1999.
4. President from 1999 to 2004.
5. Information Society Forum, A European way for the Information Society, 3rd annual report, 1999, http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/policy/isf/i_documents. html.
6. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions-The Information Society: From Corfu to Dublin "The new emerging priorities"; COM(96)395 final of 24 July 1996. Europe at the Forefront of the Global Information Society: Rolling Action Plan"; COM(96)607fi{dotless}nal; 27 November 1996, http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/poIicy/i_rollingaction. html.
7. Europe and the Global Information Society, Recommendations to the European Council, Corfu (Greece), June 1994, http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/docs/basics/docs/bangemann. pdf.
8. White Paper, on growth, competitiveness, and employment: The challenges and ways forward into the 21st century COM(93) 700 final. Brussels, 5 December 1993.
9. The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action, http://www. ibiblio. org/nii/NII-Table-of-Contents. html.
10. Jacques Berleur and Diane Whitehouse, Eds., An Ethical Global Information Society: Culture and Democracy Revisited, Chapman & Hall, 1997 (now available at Kluwer Academic Publ., Boston), p. 8.
11. Béatrice Van Bastelaer, eEurope ou les cohérences et incohérences de la Société européenne de PInformation, Working Paper of the COST 269 Group " User Aspects of ICTs See: http://www. info. fijndp. ac. be/~cita/publications/e_Europe. pdf.
12. Requested by the European Council during its Corfu meeting and approved in the Essen Council (December 1994): Europe's Way to the Information Society-An Action Plan, COM(94)347 final, Brussels 19 July 1994, http://www. europa. eu. int/ISPO/docs/htmlgenerated/i_COM(94)347final. html.
13. A Rolling Action Plan, COM(96)607, Brussels 31 July 1997 (version 1. 3; version 1 in 1996), http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/policy/i_rollingaction. html.
14. G-7 Information Society Conference, http://www. europa. eu. int/ISPO/intcoop/g8/i_g8conference. html.
15. The pilot projects were: Global Inventory Project, Global Interoperability for Broadband Networks, Transcultural Education and Training for Language Learning, Electronic Libraries, Multimedia Access To World Cultural Heritage, Environment and Natural Resources Management, Global Emergency Management Information Network Initiative, Global Healthcare Applications, Government On-line, Global Marketplace for Small and Medium Enterprises, and Maritime Information Society.
16. Building the European Information Society for Us All. First Reflections of the High Level Group of Experts (HLEG), Interim Report, January, 1996. Final Report, April 1997 http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/docs/topics/docs/hlge_final_en_97. rtf.
17. Mission and Role of the Information Society Forum, http://www. europa. eu. int/ISPO/policy/isf/i_mission. html.
18. Information Society Forum documents, http://www. europa. eu. int/ISPO/policy/isf/i_documents. html.
19. Green Paper-Living and Working in the Information Society: People First; COM(96)389, July 1996, http://europa. eu. int/comm/off/green/index_en. htm# 1996.
20. Council Decision 98/253/EC of 30 March 1998; Official Journal, L107 of 07 April 1998.
21. eEurope Initiative: http://europa. eu. int/ISPO/basics/i_europe. html.
22. eEurope. An information Society For All. Communication on a Commission Initiative for the Special European Council of Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000. http://europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/news_library/pdf_fïles/initiati ve_en. pdf.
23. eEurope, an Information Society for All, Initial document on the web site of the Commission, http://www. europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/2002/news_library/documents/texten. htm.
24. Benchmarking eEurope: http://europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/2002/benchmarking/index_en. htm.
25. Interviewed by Beatrice van Bastelaer.
26. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, eEurope Benchmarking, Report COM(2002) 62, http://europa. eu. int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/en_cnc_month_2002_02. html.
27. Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2002, Final Report, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, February 2003, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/news_library/documents/acte_eEurope_2002_en. doc.
28. New Regulatory Framework for electronic communications infrastructure and associated services, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/new_rf/text_en. htm.
29. eCommunications Networks and Services, EU Policy and Regulation, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/topics/ecomm/text_en. htm.
30. Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2005: An information society for all, Action Plan to be presented in view of the Sevilla European Council (June 2002), Com(2002) 263 final, May 2002, http://europa. eu. int/prelex/detail_dossier_real. cfm?CL=fr&DosId=l 73882.
31. Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2005: An information society for all, Action Plan to be presented in view of the Sevilla European Council (June 2002), Com(2002) 263 final, May 2002, http://europa. eu. int/prelex/detail_dossier_real. cfm?CL=fr&DosId=l 73882.
32. Commission of the European Communities, DG Information Society, eContent. A multiannual Community programme to stimulate the development and use of European digital content on the global networks and to promote the linguistic diversity in the Information Society. Work Programme 2003-2004, 2002, ftp://ftp. cordis. lu/pub/econtent/docs/work_programme_2003_2004_en. pdf.
33. Liikanen Erkki, "Priorités pour eEurope", in Le Soir, Brussels, 15 mars 2002.
34. For instance, "schools not only connected but also making full use of the Internet in class" (ibid.).
35. The MODINIS Programme, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/modinis/text_e n. htm.
36. eEurope 2005 Action Plan: an Update.
37. Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2005: Benchmarking indicators, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM(2002) 655 final, November 2002, http://europa. eu. int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0655en01. pdf.
38. Besides the difficulty, here maybe more than in other policy domains, of having recent data at disposal as well as sufficiently defined statistics between Member States to ensure the homogeneity of the indicators.
39. Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2005: Benchmarking indicators, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM(2002) 655 final, November 2002, http://europa. eu. int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0655en01. pdf.
40. Gallup Europe, Flash Eurobarometer 125: Internet and the Public at Large, May-June 2002, and Commission of the European Communities, eEurope 2002 Final Report, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, February 2003, COM(2003) 66 final, http://europa. eu. int/prelex/detail_dossier_real. cfm?CL=en&DosId=l 80710.
41. NFOREGIO, The regions and the new economy-Guidelines for innovative actions co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2000-06, http://europa. eu. int/comm/regional_policy/innovation/pdf/sheet/inforegio_en. p df.
42. Inforegio Panorama, Politique de Cohésion: quel avenir dans une Union élargie?, Nr. 3, Communautés Européennes, 2001.
43. The Candidate Countries with the assistance of the European Commission, eEurope+2003. A cooperative effort to implement the Information Society in Europe. Action Plan, June 2001, http://europa. eu. int/information_society/topics/intemational/regulatory/eeurope plus/doc/eEuropeJune2001. pdf Please also note that eEurope 2005 plans to integrate smoothly, step by step, new Member States into its policy and benchmarking.
44. Central and Eastern Europe Information Society Benchmarks, Summary Report, September 2004 http://europa. eu. int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/benchmarking/index_en. htm.
45. Preston Paschal, "The Information Superhighway and the Less Developed Regions/Smaller Entities: Implications for Policy in the EU", in Kubicek Herbert, Dutton William H., Williams Robin (eds.), The Social Shaping of Information Superhighways. European and American Roads to the Information Society, Campus Verlag, St. Martin's Press, Frankfurt/New York, 1997, pp. 277-297.
46. Preston Paschal, "The Information Superhighway and the Less Developed Regions/Smaller Entities: Implications for Policy in the EU", in Kubicek Herbert, Dutton William H., Williams Robin (eds.), The Social Shaping of Information Superhighways. European and American Roads to the Information Society, Campus Verlag, St. Martin's Press, Frankfurt/New York, 1997, pp. 277-297.
47. See http://www. content-village. org/. A working programme for years 2003 and 2004 has been adopted last year.
48. eTen, Deploying Services for an Information Society for All (eServices), http://europa. eu. int/information_society/programmes/eten/index_en. htm.
49. Commission of the European Communities, Information society Technologies. A thematic priority for Research and Development under the Specific Programme "Integrating and strengthening the European Research area" in the Community sixth Framework Programme, 2003-2004 Working programme, 2002, ftp://ftp. cordis. lu/pub/ist/docs/wp2003-04_final_en. pdf For an accurate view on societal strengths, weaknesses and challenges of each aspect of this thematic priority, see Internal Reflection Group (IRG) Report, Major Societal Challenges in the 1ST Programme of the Sixth Framework Programme, 8 May 2002. ftp://ftp. cordis. lu/pub/ist/docs/irg-msc-eport-v6(final). doc.
50. As it is not the purpose of this paper, we will not emphasise international level policies and relations. But it is worth noting that agreements like WTO GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) as well as other multilateral or bilateral dialogue between Europe and all its partners have an important role to play in the definition of the European policies.
51. Six European Directives and one decision have been published in the recent times: a Framework Directive, an Access Directive, an Authorisation Directive, a Universal Service Directive, a Directive on privacy and electronic communications, and a Radio Spectrum Decision, Official Journal of the European Communities of April 24, 2002 (L108, volume 45, pp. 1-77) and July 31, 2002. Member states are awaited to have these directives transposed on national grounds not later than July 24, 2003.
52. As pointed out in 1999 by Catinat Michel, Entrer dans la société de information. L'enseignement américain, in Futuribles, Nr. 242, May 1999, pp. 19-42.
53. The 'Computer Systems Policy Project', an affiliation of chief executive officers of the 13 largest American computer companies, were advocating a strictly business perspective on development of the Global Information Infrastructure, together with a tough negotiating posture. FINS Special Report February 21, 1995.
54. As pointed out in 1999 by Catinat Michel, Entrer dans la société de information. L'enseignement américain, in Futuribles, Nr. 242, May 1999, pp. 19-42.
55. Council of Europe, Convention n° 185 on Cybercrime, http://conventions. coe. int/Default. asp.
56. Alvaro de Miranda and Morten Kristiansen, Technological Determinism and Ideology: The European Union and the Information Society, Paper delivered at the 3rd Policy Agendas for Sustainable Technological Innovation (POSTI) International Workshop, London, U. K., 1-3 December 2000, http://www. esst. uio. no/posti/workshops/miranda. pdf.
57. A. de Miranda et al. note that the link was first made by American presidential adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski in his 1969 book Between Two Ages, America's Role in the Technetronic Era (quoted from A. Mattelart, Archéologie de la "Société de lnformation", in Le Monde Diplomatique, August 2000).
58. European Commission, White Paper on growth, competitiveness, and employment: The challenges and ways forward into the 21st century, COM(93) 700 final, Brussels, 5 December 1993, http://europa. eu. int/en/record/white/c93700/contents. html.
59. Bernard Cassen, Naissance de l'Europe S. A., in Le Monde Diplomatique, Juin 2000.
60. Volker Schneider proposes an interesting review of these hypotheses and others in: Schneider Volker, Different Roads to the Information Society? Comparing U. S. and European Approaches from a Public Policy Perspective, in Kubicek Herbert, Dutton William H., Williams Robin (eds.), The Social Shaping of Information Superhighways, opacity, pp. 339-358.
61. European Commission, Facing the challenge. The Lisbon strategy for growth and employment, Report from the High Level Group chaired by Wim Kok. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004-51 pp., ISBN 92-894-7054-2.
62. Ducatel Ken, Webster Juliet, Herrmann Werner, Information Infrastructures or Societies?, in Ducatel Ken, Webster Juliet, Herrmann Werner (eds.), Praise for The Information Society in Europe. Work and Life in an Age of Globalization, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 2000, p. 9.
63. van Bastelaer Béatrice, eEurope and User Aspects of ICT, COST Working Paper No. 1, June 2001. She was research assistant at the CITA, FUNDP Namur, and is currently associate project leader at the eGovernment team of the Walloon Region, Belgium.
64. Although a traditional European (French?) trend of considering IT as creating more problems than it solves, we can say that EU rallied the US position which is more confident about the potential of technologies to boost growth.
65. Castells Manuel, La galaxie Internet, Fayard, Paris, 2001, 370 pp.
66. Wolton Dominique, Naissance de l'Europe démocratique, Champs, Flammarion, Paris, 1997, 460 pp, p. 360.
67. Wolton Dominique, Naissance de l'Europe démocratique, Champs, Flammarion, Paris, 1997, p. 373,385
68. Wolton Dominique, Naissance de l'Europe démocratique, Champs, Flammarion, Paris, 1997 p. 381.
69. The word 'critical mass' is taken from the conclusions of the eEurope+2003 progress report.
70. Breton, quoting Proulx. Breton Philippe, Le culte de I'Internet. Une menace pour le lien social?, La Découverte, Paris, 2000, 130 pp.
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74. Ducatel Ken, Webster Juliet, Herrmann Werner, Information Infrastructures or Societies? op.cit.