Debate: Cohesion policy: promoting innovative and smart transformation and regional ICT connectivity
Date: MONDAY, 7 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Mariya Gabriel
Language: EN

However, as we pursue digital policies that empower people and businesses to seize this future, we recognise that there is a real risk of a digital divide. The Commission therefore welcomes this report on the role of cohesion policy in promoting innovative and smart transformation and regional ICT connectivity.  We agree on the challenges the report identifies. They are also addressed in our 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade, the long-term vision for the European rural areas, as well as the recently published 8th Cohesion Report.  Cohesion investments address the specific concerns raised in the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) report. Cohesion policy invests substantially in the digital agenda. EUR 18 billion were invested in information and communication technologies in the 2014-2020 period through the European Regional Development Fund. The 2021 programmes are gearing up for further investment in digitalisation. The cohesion policy post-2020 with its first policy objective – more competitive and smarter Europe – will promote innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity, including support to SMEs. Inclusive and fair digitalisation is central to the cohesion approach and answers the key points raised in your report. First, the goal of cohesion policy is to ensure that no one is left behind and that every European benefits. We are committed to tackling the digital divide.  Inclusive and fair digitalisation is central to the overall approach to such investment. Cohesion policy invests in digital highways where they do not currently exist, and we support the provision of e-government services accessible to all citizens.  This is also why, as part of the long-term vision for the European rural areas, we will address the digital infrastructure and skills gap through rural proofing, along with data collection by the Rural Observatory. Stakeholders and representatives at various levels around the Rural Pact will promote connected rural areas.  Secondly, we have built in requirements for gender equality. This is a pre—condition, an enabling condition. We are checking all the new programmes against a number of very specific criteria before approval.  Thirdly, we have a particular focus on the digitalisation of small and medium—sized enterprises, so we very much welcome your report’s focus on SMEs too. Last, and perhaps most importantly, we fully agree that digital technology has a key role to play in helping every region to find the formula for future success so that the green transition is fair and works for everyone. However, cohesion investments and the Digital Decade will work together to this end. The European ambition is to be digitally sovereign in an open and interconnected world and, as I said from the beginning, to pursue digital policies that empower people, and this includes addressing vulnerabilities and dependencies as well as accelerating investment. For example, in order to contribute to bridging the digital divide, the recent proposal for a satellite-based connectivity system has as one of its stated goals to remove dead zones, increasing cohesion across Member States’ territories, including rural, peripheral, remote and isolated areas and islands.  We welcome this report. We will welcome its conclusions, and we look forward to further collaboration with the Parliament as we move to implementation.