• H2020
• Policy & Research

The Competitiveness Council has concluded its first day of talks with an agreement on the digital single market strategy.

The two-day meeting, taking place in Brussels, discussed the policy approach and adopted conclusions on the digital transformation of European industry. A number of important aspects were highlighted, including the importance of targeting areas where action is needed for the digital transformation of industry and of encouraging the development of digital entrepreneurship, especially start-ups.

Commenting, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Latvia’s Minister for Economics and current co-chair of the meetings of the Competitiveness Council, stated: “a high-performance digital single market can contribute more than €400bn every year to the European economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.”

Ministers also came to an agreement on a general approach for establishing a new form of single-member private limited liability company. Adding further thoughts, Reizniece-Ozola said: “this dossier is a concrete example of the advantages which digitalisation can bring to the Single Market. It offers benefits for those wanting to start their own companies, for employees, for SMEs looking to expand, and to public administrations which will become more digital. It will encourage growth and help create jobs.”

The Council also reached a political agreement on revised rules on package travel designed to adapt the travel market to the digital age and better address the needs of consumers and businesses. The legislation is expected to strengthen the rights of travellers when booking online and offer benefits for businesses, in particular SMEs.

The Competitiveness Council meeting concludes on Friday.