Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, on Wednesday unveiled far-reaching plans to transform Europe into a computer-savvy society where every European would have access to the Internet.
Prodi said the initiative - dubbed "eEurope" - would focus on 10 priority areas ranging from education to healthcare in an effort to modernise the European economy and create a true "Information Society."
"Europe has already successfully accomplished historic projects such as the Single Market and the euro. There is no reason not to take the political step of producing a similar dynamic forward-looking response to the Information Society," Prodi said in a statement.
Prodi said he wanted every citizen, home, school, business and administration to be hooked up to the Internet and said he hoped his plan would create a "digitally literate" Europe where an entrepreneurial culture took root.
He listed the Commission`s priorities as adapting education to the digital age, lowering the cost of Internet access, putting e-commerce rules in place, providing fast Internet access for researchers and encouraging the use of smart cards.
He also said it was crucial to find ways of raising more risk capital for high-tech start-ups, to include disabled people in the Information Society, to use modern technology in healthcare and transport systems and to ensure that Europeans could access government services online.
Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for the Information Society, said there was no time to lose.
"There is no time to wait until the current policies of member states and the Commission deliver. A major effort has to be made to advance key policies," he said.
Liikanen said the EU needed to emulate the US where Internet-related companies had created 2.3 million direct jobs and build on its own strengths which he referred to as mobile communications and digital TV.
"By combining digital literacy with strength in mobile communications, Europe can lead the next great leap to a wireless Internet world," he said.
The eEurope plans are due to be definitively approved at a special EU meeting on employment to be held in Lisbon in March, 2000.
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