Press Releases

Gorbach: ICT as European growth strategy

"The European Union faces many challenges in the third millennium. Information and communication technologies in particular will be the key to better jobs, sustainable growth and global competitiveness. Only by boosting this growth strategy will we achieve the Lisbon growth and productivity objectives; that is why we shall also be attributing particular importance to this sector during the Austrian Presidency and for this reason, too, we shall also be working very closely with Finland, which takes over the Presidency from Austria", Vice-Chancellor and Research Minister Hubert Gorbach said in his address on Wednesdy evening (25 January) to the European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy Committee in Brussels.

He said it was important to set priorities for the Information Society in the national reform programmes and to evaluate them regularly. "This has to be based, of course, on effective implementation of the existing regulatory framework for electronic communications and review of that framework in keeping with the principle of better regulation and in the light of the i2010 strategy ", Gorbach continued, referring in this connection to the Commission’s final report on the implementation of the EU regulatory package for electronic communications that would be presented during Austria’s Presidency. In addition, the creation of a Single European Information space was a priority.

"In order to create conditions that encourage innovation, we must expand the broadband networks, the highways of the Information Society, and pursue a practice-oriented spectrum policy that takes account among other things of technical feasibility, transparency of roaming charges and harmonisation of spectrum”, the Vice-Chancellor said. 

In conclusion, Gorbach stressed the importance of securing an appropriate distribution between the public sector and private industry of the costs and risks of the strategically so important operation of the Galileo satellite radio navigation system. “All these plans call for close cooperation by all parties with the European Parliament. I am confident that this cooperation will function very well during the Austrian Presidency and will be a success for all parties”, he concluded.