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Digital Single Market is central to our future prosperity

Date

10 May 2017

Sections

InfoSociety
Innovation & Enterprise
Trade & Society

Digital Single Market is central to our future prosperity

European Conservatives and Reformists have cautiously welcomed proposals today to further prioritise the development of the Digital Single Market (DSM).

The European Commission's mid-term review of its DSM strategy urges swift adoption of existing proposals and signals further initiatives on cybersecurity, online platforms and the data economy.

ECR Co-ordinator on the Internal Market Committee, UK Conservative MEP Dan Dalton, said: "It is good to see the Commission placing such importance on the DSM, an area which is central to our future prosperity. However, so far the concrete proposals have not matched the rhetoric. They have focused too much on restricting digital activity and too little on unleashing the future potential of an integrated digital single market 

"We support the Commission's determination to ease the cross-border flow of information. This is vitally important in the single market and particularly hits small businesses by stifling competition.

"We are pleased to see the Commission working with industry in the preparation of legislation relating to online platforms. The existing proposals place unnecessarily heavy burdens on platforms so we welcome recognition the commission needs to do better in this area" 

Mr Dalton agreed that decision-making could be speeded up but added a note of caution.

"The Parliament does need to follow up on Commission initiatives but we must also make sure that those proposals are sensible and well thought through in the first place.

"Speed should not come at the expense of proper scrutiny and good legislation."

Fellow Conservative MEP Vicky Ford,  who chairs the committee, said: “The mid-term review reminds us that at the halfway point of the legislative agenda it is important to remain focused.  New initiatives are sometimes needed but it is equally important to make sure that existing legislation is fit for purpose. The digital environment is evolving rapidly and it's important to support starts-ups and SMEs in particular. Europe will not build digital giants if it pulls the handbrake on the growth of each start-up.

"As chair, I have pushed to prioritise DSM issues and I am pleased that key DSM legislation has been on the agenda in the majority of committee meetings and also in working groups. I hope the Parliament will continue this approach.”

Ends

Contact Robert Taylor, robert.taylor@europarl.europa.eu, +32 498 984 760

The ECR was created to take the EU in a new direction, according to the principles of our founding Prague Declaration. It is the third largest group in the European Parliament with 74 MEPs from 18 EU states.

For more information on the ECR, watch our promotional video at http://youtu.be/F5syQt1JuQI or visit our website: www.ecrgroup.eu