Catherine Stihler responds to Anthony painter’s article, Uber-connected
The digital revolution has given us so much, yet there is so much still to be explored.
The work being carried out on the digital single market in the European parliament is hugely exciting. We cannot fear these changes, as they are coming whether we like it or not. Our focus instead should be on how to make them work for all 500 million citizens of the European Union – we cannot afford to let anyone be left behind.
The heart of the EU´s – and the United Kingdom´s – competitiveness lies in the single market. However, 20 years after its official creation, the single market is still not fulfilling its potential, primarily because of remaining national administrative obstacles and lack of EU legislation enforcement by member states.
The DSM has the potential to improve access to information, bring efficiency gains in terms of reduced transaction costs, improve consumer choice, reduce our environmental footprint, and introduce improved business and administrative models. It could generate additional GDP growth of 0.4 per cent over the period up to 2020, creating more than 223,000 new jobs. The European commission estimates potential savings of €100bn a year if all public procurement was online.
Take Estonia, whose citizens now have e-governance, e-health and e-services in education. Estonia has successfully incorporated ubiquitous computing and the government provides literally all services online including voting. Estonian citizens voted from 105 countries across the globe in the last national election. Is that not inclusive democracy?
Even now politicians are more engaged with those outside the parliament due to digital platforms. I hear from many constituents and businesses via Twitter and conduct meetings via Skype. Labour in government would need to actively remove existing administrative burdens and take forward innovative e-service provision.
If we keep three priorities – mindset, inclusiveness and leadership – at the centre of our policies, we can achieve much by 2020.
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Catherine Stihler is a member of the European parliament for Scotland. She tweets @C_Stihler_MEP
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Articles in the Britain 2020 series are all available to read on the Progress website