MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE INTERNAL MARKET AND CONSUMER PROTECTION (IMCO)

The Slow Road to eGovernment: With the 2030 Digital Compass and the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles calling for a human-centred and prosperous digital future, how can the EU ensure that no citizens are le behind in the digitalisation of public services?

Submitted by: Anna Maslova (Jyväskylän lyseon lukio), Atilla Karakaya (TR), Daisy Doan (Mäntän lukio), Dihn Mihn Tran (Salon lukio), Henrik Tamminen (Raudaskylän Kristillinen Opisto), Johanna Melin (SE), Kavika Vasanthakumar (Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu), Miriam Lubrich (CH), Thu Hanh Bui (Mäntän lukio), Öyku Berkel (TR), Nea-Sofia Rikala (Chairperson, FI)

The European Youth Parliament aims to support Member States in creating more secure, safe, accessible, inclusive, sustainable, and connected digital platforms and environments with clear EU-wide standards. Furthermore, we aim to provide basic ICT skills to everyone for free while keeping in mind the gaps between citizens of various ages and genders in both technological knowledge and employment in the IT sphere, because:

A Women are under-represented in the field of information and communications technology (ICT),

B. The eGovernment Action Plan established by the European Commission has fallen short from its set goals,

C. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has many limitations and needs to be revised,

D 90% of jobs in Europe require a basic level of digital skills, yet around 42% of Europeans lack said skills,

Turku 2023 – National Session of the European Youth Parliament Finland General Assembly, 10 April 2023

E. Out of all security breaches in the EU in 2021-2022, 82% occurred because of human error,

F. In 2022, 52% of EU citizens had sought out health-related information online,

G 63% of EU citizens want a secure single electronic identification for all ser vices,

H. The proportion of the EU population aged 16 to 74 that had never used the internet was 7% on average in 2022,

I. The economic cost of using physical invoices reaches over EUR 50 billion ever y year for private and public enterprises throughout the EU,

J. Over 10 terabytes of data is stolen monthly,

K 39% of seniors (65-74 years old) have not used technology in the last 3 months,

L. There is a vast disparity in the digital infrastructure between Member States, defined as the foundation of information technology and operations,

M. The need to ensure data privacy throughout the EU increases with data moving across borders,

N. Almost half of the EU citizens aged between 16 and 74 keep their old electronic device in the household compared with 10% who recycle it,

O. 56% of respondents to a European Commission sur vey have experienced at least one of the nine types of online scams or fraud in the last two years;

The European Youth Parliament,

1. A sks companies to encourage women working in the ICT sector to publicly share their experiences in the field;

2. Calls upon the European Data Protection Board (EDPD) to collaborate with the European Commission to revise and amend the GDPR;

3. Instructs the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect) to provide a hotline for problems regarding digitised public ser vices and scams;

4. Urges Member States to implement a recycling and reusing system for used digital devices;

5. Proposes to the European Commission to create an EU-wide application for all eGovernment ser vices comprising of five sections: identification-related documents, medical records and documents, school and work records, and credible information on health and detecting scams;

6. A sks Member States to provide free courses regarding: a) cyber skills in the school curricula, b) digital skills, especially for unemployed people and those who require such skills in their profession, c) basic ICT skills for seniors in collaboration with the AGE Platform Europe;

7. Recommends Member States to follow Denmark's example in saving money by encouraging businesses and government agencies to transfer to electronic invoicing;

8. Suggests Member States to apply blockchain technology on eGovernment platforms of public agencies concerning processes such as data storage security, verification of digital identity, supply chain management, voting systems, and smart contracts;

9. Encourages the European Commission to continue expanding the Wifi4EU project;

10. Instructs the European Commission to use the Recover y and Resilience Facility (RRF) in collaboration with Member States for the provision of free-of-charge electronic devices connected to the internet in public spaces;

11. Urges the European Commission to invest in the expansion and development of sustainable digital infrastructure;

12. Calls upon the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) to collaborate with Member States' police departments to create an "authority group" of task forces specialising in cyber-crime, data security, and finding illicit content on the internet with the help of artificial intelligence (AI);

13. Encourages Member States to cooperate with the EDPB, through the process of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), to protect the security of cross-border data flows.

Turku 2023 – National Session of the European Youth Parliament Finland General Assembly, 10 April 2023