The Information Society in the Euro-Mediterranean context

At the European Council in Corfu, June 1994, the European Union confirmed the strategic character of a harmonious transition towards the information society.

• EC Information Society Project Office (ISPO) Webserver
• Recommendations to the European Council: Europe and the global information society

The G7 summit in Brussels, February 1995, underlined the necessity for all countries, including the developing countries and economies in transition, to participate in this general movement.

• The G-7 Information Society Conference

The first forum on this theme was held in Brussels, last June, between the European Union and the Central and Eastern European Countries.

• "Forum with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the Information Society"

More specifically concerning the countries of the Mediterranean bassin, the communication networks had been a major topic at the seminar on "The Europe of Research and the Mediterranean", organized under the French Presidency in March 1995 in Sophia-Antipolis.

• Intervention d'Edith CRESSON au colloque "L'Europe de la recherche et de la Méditerranée: enjeux de la coopération scientifique" (only in french)

Since then, the Euro-Mediterranean Conference which was held in Barcelona 27-28 November 1995, adopted the MEDA action programme for an amount of 4.685 MECUs including Information Technologies.

• La Conférence de Barcelone et les Accords euro-méditerranéens d'Association (only in French, en format rtf)
• Déclaration civile de Barcelone - The Civil Declaration of Barcelona (in rtf format)
• Barcelona declaration adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference (in rtf format)
• Participating countries in the Barcelona Conference (only in french)
• Telecommunications in the Mediterranean (only in french)

Finally, the Italian Presidency of the European Union will organize a forum at ministerial level on "Information Society 30-31 May 1996 on the topics communication, education and training, research. In view of the conference, three preliminary workshops will be held.

The Rome Conference

Preliminary workshops

1. Research and Information Technologies (organized by ERCIM)
2. Regulatory framework and development of communication networks for economic co-operation (only in French)
3. Needs in the field of education and training (only in French)

April 1996