Nachrichten und Ansichten

For more than 75% of EU citizens their city is their home – it is where they mostly live, work, and play. Cities are the major source of European economic activity and of innovation. But the global economy is developing and changing fast and European cities need to rise to new challenges and develop and improve. Our cities are also a major source of greenhouse gases and local pollution and we need concerted action to put this right. We can and we should make cities better places to live and to work in. Our cities can become cleaner and healthier and use less energy. They can be Smart Cities.<br>
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The European Commission has published advice received from external experts concerning which parts of telecoms markets could be regulated <span class="A__T1">ex-ante</span> by national telecoms regulators to address structural competition problems. The study advises that fewer markets should be included on the Commission's list than under current EU rules, and also finds that no new markets should be added.

On 1st October, <a href="http://www.paneuropa.bg/en/&quot; target="_blank">PanEuropa Bulgaria </a>organized a conference on the topic of "Freedom and Diversity of Media. Where Does Bulgaria Stand?”. The conference was open by <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/bulgaria-0">Gergana Passy, Digital Champion in Bulgaria </a>and by Dr. Marko Arndt, Head of "Konrad Adenauer Foundation”, Bulgaria.

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From left:<br />
Nikolaos Kontinakis, EUROCITIES project coordinator. Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland, UK (5th). Stanislaw Szwabski, chairman of Gdynia City Council, PL (6th). Nils Usakovs, Mayor of Riga, LV (7th).<br />
On the Commission side, the event was attended by Mercè Griera-i-Fisa (DG CONNECT), 4th from right.</p>
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40 European cities are now committed to use ICT in the fight against climate change.</p>

The European Commission is publishing a blueprint to help micro-enterprises and small businesses in Europe’s regions grow by using digital technologies. To ensure funding allocated to SMEs to enhance their e-commerce and ICT capacities is spent quickly and in full, innovation vouchers worth up to €10,000 will be made available for purchasing and learning to make use of digital (ICT) services.

In Denmark, three of the five 116 numbers are currently operational

Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information as amended by Directive 2013/37/EU ('PSI Directive') is implemented in Estonia by the following measures:

DG CONNECT is setting up a pilot Community of Practice in which companies, industry associations, NGOs, universities, researchers or other organisations linked to internet or ICT sector can exchange ideas and best practices about better self- and co-regulation.

Today we publish the results of Action 5 of the Commission's CSR strategy for 2011-2014 with a twofold initiative: setting out best practice Principles for Better Self- and Co-regulation and establishing a Community of Practice gathering stakeholders interested in Self- and Co-Regulation.