Policy Programme – Digital Decade Compass

European Commission

The Federation of Finnish Enterprises supports the Commission’s initiative to lay out clear targets for the EU’s digital decade and to establish a robust monitoring and cooperation mechanism to ensure progress towards these goals in all Member States. It is also welcome the Programme is adopted as a binding decision by the Parliament and the Council, as this highlights the importance of the undertaking.

We urge the Parliament and the Council to pass the decision with a high level of ambition appropriate to the mission at hand. Furthermore, we ask the Member States and the Commission to commit adequate resources and supervision to the implementation of the Programme.

Digital targets

In general, it is sensible the Programme divides the digital targets into four main categories (skills, infrastructure, businesses, public sector). With respect to individual EU-level targets, we recommend the Parliament and the Council adopt the following amendments:

• Set out a target for a share of population whose digital skills are above the basic level
• Include a target for the 6G development
• Establish targets for the roll-out of soft data infrastructure (e.g., data spaces, data intermediaries, data altruism organisations, public sector APIs)
• Set out targets for a share of SMEs whose digital intensity is (1) at a medium level and (2) at a high level
• Lay out targets for ICT investments of SMEs and larger companies
• Include targets for public online services that focus on enterprises and business owners
• Add a target for the participation of Member States in multi-country projects, giving weight to the contributions of the more digitally advanced Member States.

Monitoring and cooperation mechanism

We commend the Commission for proposing a robust monitoring and cooperation mechanism to advance the objectives and targets laid out in the Programme.

For the implementation of the Programme to be effective, we ask the Commission to pay close attention to the process of adopting and monitoring country-specific recommendations as these are essential in helping Member States overcome obstacles they may face in the digital decade. The process ought to be constructive and closely linked to other EU programmes geared to advancing the digital transition in Member States. The multi-country projects envisaged by the Programme should also be focused on challenges many Member States have in common.

To have a better view of the state of play of the digital transition outside the EU, we would advise the Commission to include in its annual Report on the State of the Digital Decade an assessment of the progress of the EU’s main competitors, especially the US and China, in the relevant digital objectives and targets based on KPIs that are established in the DESI or other corresponding statistical sources.

National Digital Decade strategic roadmaps

To make real and timely progress on the objectives set out by the Programme, it is important for each Member State to establish in its National Digital Decade strategic roadmap a realistic national base level and an ambitious yet attainable trajectory for each EU-level target and to follow them up with measures and policies that best serve to achieve them, including multi-country projects and resources from other EU programmes.

In the case of more digitally advanced Member States, such as Finland, we would like to see the Commission to encourage them to raise the national bar on the EU-level targets whenever possible. It is a matter of Europe’s global competitiveness to enable the EU’s top digital performers to push the envelope even further.

However, the focus should not be solely on the digitally advanced, as all Member States should be counselled to lay out in their national roadmaps additional country-specific targets that take into consideration the level of digital maturity and special circumstances in each Member State and that serve to complement the EU-wide digital transition.

The active and effective participation of stakeholders, especially SMEs and their representative organizations, in the adoption, adjustment and implementation of the national roadmaps is crucial in ensuring the successful and inclusive digital transition in Member States. We therefore ask the Commission to pay close attention in the annual cooperation with Member States to the stakeholder engagement.

The Federation of Finnish Enterprises

Joonas Mikkilä
Head of Digital and Educational Affairs