The Czech
Republic can rejoice in the first success of our Presidency by reaching a
preliminary agreement on the policy program Digital compass: the European way
for the Digital Decade 2030. This program will bring the European Union a bit
closer to a modern, competitive, digitized, prosperous and educated society and
make life easier for citizens in particular.
The
Digital Decade is a program that addresses the overall digital transformation
within the European Union. It aims to strengthen the leadership of the EU and
its individual countries in this sphere, including by having countries work
together to evaluate their multi-annual strategic plans and by supporting
shared projects in areas such as AI and cybersecurity.
The
program also targets the education of citizens, with the aim that by 2030 up to
80% of citizens will have at least basic digital skills and be able to meet the
increasing demands for competitiveness and digital competence. Another goal is
5G network coverage, whereby by the end of the decade, European households should
be covered by a gigabit network and have 100% of their online availability of
the essential public services to save time when interacting with authorities.
Cloud services are also among the targets, with up to 750 businesses expected
to be connected and actively using the service.
The Digital Economy and
Society Index (DESI) is assessed and published by the Commission in an annual
report to measure the level of digital performance across countries. The
agreement is currently pending approval by the Council and the European
Parliament, and the Czech Presidency intends to submit the agreement to COREPER
for its approval as soon as possible.