Affordable Connectivity for All

In her State of the Union this year, President von der Leyen reiterated Europe’s ambition to finance the transition to a digital and net-zero economy. 

Increasingly, digitalisation is a fundamental part of societal infrastructure, from connectivity that supports consumer mobile services, through to healthcare, education, agriculture, transportation, industrial capabilities and more.

Getting societal infrastructure to work and be resilient means that we need to have a long hard look at the relationship between the public and private sectors and their respective roles to ensure there is no public harm. How do we get this right and what does it need ?

On 27 October 2022, the think tank Friends of Europe will hold its annual State of Europe high-level roundtable in Brussels. In the run-up to State of Europe, Debating Europe is convening a series of citizens’ panels, with a mix of citizens and civil society representatives. Each of these citizens’ panels will be matched to a session at State of Europe.

The citizens’ panel we are publishing today met to discuss digital connectivity across Europe. You can watch the panel in the video above. Taking part were:

• Ingrid
• Sophie
• Yordan

How can Europe close the ‘digital divide’ in digital connectivity, particularly between urban and rural areas? 

How can the EU ensure digitalisation is both environmentally sustainable and a just transition, and that the most vulnerable are not left behind?

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.