Decision (EU) 2022/2481, adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council on 14 December 2022, establishes the strategic programme of the Digital Decade for 2030. Under this Decision, the general objectives and digital goals that the European Union and the Member States aspire to achieve in 2030 are precisely outlined.
The general objectives of the Digital Decade guide the development model for which the European Union is committed, a model that places people at the centre of technological innovation, that strengthens the strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty of the Union and that contributes to the green transition. These general objectives should guide the actions of the Member States in the field of digitisation over the next decade, grouped into three major dimensions:
- Digital citizenship – which includes promoting a digital environment in which rights are respected, closing social and territorial gaps and ensuring that all people can participate online in democratic life and access public services.
- Fostering leadership and sovereignty – including the development of advanced digital infrastructures and technologies, boosting the European digital industry and fostering cybersecurity to ensure strategic autonomy.
- Contribution to the ecological transition – which includes the promotion of sustainable and energy-efficient digital infrastructures and technologies and the use of digital technologies to contribute to the green transition.
In addition, the Digital Decade strategic programme also translates the Union’s digital ambitions for 2030 into a series of concrete and measurable digital goals grouped into four major areas:
- A digitally trained population and highly qualified digital professionals
- Secure, resilient, effective and sustainable digital infrastructures
- Digital transformation of companies
- Digitisation of public services
The Decision determines that each Member State must submit to the Commission a Roadmap indicating the measures, policies and actions it intends to implement up to 2030 to contribute to the achievement of European digital goals and objectives.