The European Commission has reported to the Council and the
Parliament on progress towards the goals of its eEurope initiative,
launched in December last year, concluding that there has been a
broad impact on Member States and beyond.
The Commission also released the results of its latest survey of
internet use, showing a 55% growth in internet penetration in the
last six months. The figures indicate that internet penetration in
EU households has risen from 18% in March to 28% in October.
"These figures are really very encouraging. The year 2000 has
truly been the year of the internet in Europe" said Erkki Liikanen,
Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society and
in charge of implementing the eEurope Action Plan.
The Commission says that eEurope has had a strong impact on the
speeding up of important legislation including assuring agreement
on local loop unbundling and cutting red tape on export controls
for encryption products.
Liikanen acknowledged the need for more effective protection
against attacks on information service networks.
