GERMANY-MERKEL/HOLLANDE/JUNCKER EU leaders call for unity to bring Europe into digital age

Record ID: 149656

  • Title: GERMANY-MERKEL/HOLLANDE/JUNCKER EU leaders call for unity to bring Europe into digital age
  • Date: 1st June 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JUNE 1, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, FRENCH PRESIDENT, FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER AND OTHER OFFICIALS WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM PHOTOGRAPHERS MERKEL SPEAKING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "If we want to
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADQAG9GBH2NZR9ER097DT8IJUI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: French, German and EU leaders met in Berlin on Monday (June 1), to discuss bringing Europe forward in the digital age.
    French President Francois Hollande and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the capital Berlin, where they held a working dinner to talk about how EU members could improve their digital standing to help increase growth in the region.
    Speaking at a news conference ahead of the meeting, Merkel highlighted the importance of EU countries working together to create a single European digital market.
    "If we want to utilise the advantages of the single market, then, and we are 500 million people, we can achieve a lot if we act together, but if we act in a fragmented way then it could make things difficult," she said.
    Hollande went on to say that a unified digital market within Europe was the only way forward and that it would help to ease youth unemployment.
    "Europe could be exemplary in terms of adapting, energy transition, and numerical transition. But there are conditions to get there. The first is to have a unified digital market so that our national regulations can be harmonised," he said.
    Juncker added that the EU was lagging behind other regions in its use of the newest technologies and that more had to be done to bring European companies up to speed with the rest of the world.
    "The digital revolution, in its impact, is comparable with the first industrial revolution and we have to go into creating a unified digital market with enthusiasm, courage and with commitment. We are underselling ourselves in this point. Only 1.7 percent of European companies are involved in highly developed technologies. Forty one percent of European companies have not even started to get involved in the top digital technology. We must get them on course."
    Also attending the talks were representatives from business throughout Europe.
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