INSTITUTIONS, PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL REALITIES, pages: 169 - 176, 2017

Digital Policies As Instruments In The European Integration Process

Abstract: The comprehensive European integration process is based on the four freedoms and the principle of the ever closer Union. For that, European policies are dispatched and implemented both at the EU level and at the national level for cohesion, economic growth, jobs, etc. However, with the revolutionary development of the digital technologies and the advent of the digital space and the Fourth Industrial Revolutions, several new challenges have the potential to shift the integration process. The purpose of this presentation is to contextualize digital policies as instruments of the European integration process. The basic assumption of this research is that the digital space is a new target for European integration with initiatives like the gradual elimination of roaming charges, a unified copyright reform or the data protection regulation. First, I discuss the concept of globalization and the role of IT in connecting people and businesses. Then, I translate the discussion on IT innovation in the European Union with references to the EU policy documents. Lastly, I bridge the policy references with analyses on the potential of digital policies for the development of the European Union.