EESC wil dat alle Europeanen digitaal worden (en)

E-inclusion should become a fundamental right of every citizen. That was the message from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) at the end of a two-day "Click IT!" forum held in Gdansk (Poland) under the auspices of the Polish Presidency. Featuring around a dozen exhibitors demonstrating innovative yet easy-to-implement schemes to close the digital gap in Europe, the forum, was held on the sidelines of a high-level international conference entitled Innovation for Digital Inclusion.

"What the Digital Agenda's motto - 'Every European Digital' - means for us is a digital space with equal business and social opportunities for everyone, while ensuring that security and human rights are respected in the same manner as in real life," said EESC Vice-President Anna Maria Darmanin in her address to the conference. Referring to the crisis she said: "We cannot afford to have anyone excluded from the emerging digital world."

Click IT! Forum was opened by Ms Barbara Kudrycka, Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, Ms Neelie Kroes i, European Commissioner responsible for the Digital Agenda and Ms Laure Batut (Workers' Group, France), the EESC's rapporteur on digital literacy. Ms Batut called for "a global approach to ensure e-inclusion for ALL citizens, by guaranteeing not just sufficient infrastructure, but also life-long e-skills training". Active participation in the information society should be viewed, she said, as "a fundamental citizens' right".

This was echoed by Commissioner Kroes, who stated: "Investment in ICT pays off well when it goes hand in hand with investment in digital literacy." She called for an across-the-board commitment to bringing about a new digital world and announced the Digital Empowerment Awards, aimed at rewarding and promoting European digital champions.

Click IT! fully reflects the EESC's long-standing commitment to an inclusive and fair information society. With its practical, interactive approach the forum brought a useful extra dimension to the Innovation for Digital Inclusion major international conference, which was organised by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the City Hall of Gdansk and the "Cities on the Internet" Association to promote concrete e-inclusion policies within the implementation of Europe's Digital Agenda.