Digital transition in the Euro-Mediterranean region

Key points

The EESC:

• Assesses the current state of digital transition in the Euro-Mediterranean region, programmes and progress made;
• Highlights the potential benefits of digitalisation and in particular new opportunities for SMEs, through e-commerce, e-education, e-governance, e-health and digital banking;
• Identifies barriers to digitalisation, with the main barriers relating to digital infrastructure and access, the digital divide both within a country (rural/urban, women/men, youth/elderly) and between countries (north/south), lack of essential digital skills and digital literacy. Hence, the digital transition can lead to increased inequality in a country and also to divergence in development patterns among the countries in the region;
• Highlights risks associated with digitalisation, from risks relating to cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, data protection, digital piracy to civil freedom.
• Emphasises that the UN Human Rights Conventions and the ILO Core Conventions must be ambitiously implemented in all states of the Mediterranean region so that the digital transition can genuinely contribute to prosperous ecological, economic and social development.