ZAGREB, February 13, 2018 – The EU digital single market has no alternative and its construction is the EU’s priority for a better global competitiveness so that its citizens could benefit more from the digital age and cut losses which now, without that market, amount to approximately 415 billion euro in the EU. It is estimated that following the establishment of the digital single market, the EU can generate an additional 415 billion euro.
Those are the highlights of the conference “The Digital Single Market — Challenges of the Digital Transformation of the Business Sector,” organised by the European Commission and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) on Tuesday, which brought together more than 350 participants, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Ansip praised Croatia’s efforts to develop a digital society, saying that eHealth, eReferrals and eIDcards were excellent examples. The EU commissioner said the biggest problem in Croatia was a costly connectivity and broadband Internet, adding that EU citizens spend 1.2% of their income on the Internet while Croatians spend nearly 3%. Another problem is that there is no broadband Internet in Croatian rural areas, Ansip said. We don’t have a digital single market in the EU, rather 28 small markets which is why expenses are higher, Ansip said.
Given that he was Estonia’s prime minister for nine years, a country that positioned itself well in the digital economy, Ansip stated some examples from that Baltic country. With the introduction of eIDcard, Estonia, the population of which is 1.3 million, saved a significant amount of money and used it to finance its defence, but it took us six years to get to that, Ansip said.
Underscoring that Ansip’s visit was exceptionally important for Croatia and its efforts to digitise society and the economy, the Croatian PM said Estonia and its accomplishments in the digital economy could be an example to and inspire Croatia. “To succeed in digitisation, Croatia needs three things — to improve digital skills of the entire society, encourage and advance digital economy, and modernise and raise standards of digital services in the public administration sector,” Plenković said. This also means new jobs in the future as well as the adjustment of the education system, he added.
Plenković said his government was aware of the importance of the digital society, adding that it planned to draw up at least a framework for a comprehensive national strategy for the next ten years, which includes digitisation.
