The lunch for all the Ministers, attended by Xavier Bettel and Étienne Schneider, provided the Ministers with an opportunity to discuss initiatives concerning the single digital market, and more particularly the latest proposals on e-commerce presented by the Commission on Wednesday. Xavier Bettel stressed the importance of putting an end to geo-blocking, one reason being to facilitate cross-border access to online content.

Regarding telecommunications, the Ministers reached agreement on the second digital dividend. The 700 MHz band will be freed up by digital television, thereby increasing the spectrum available for mobile broadband.

The Commission will soon be publishing its proposals for reforming the regulations governing the telecommunications market. On this point, Xavier Bettel emphasised the importance of avoiding over-regulation. He said it was necessary to promote the development of new innovative businesses providing their services online while at the same time ensuring that users were properly protected. The future regulatory framework needed to remain sufficiently flexible to take account of national circumstances, and it had to maintain technological neutrality.

The Ministers welcomed the upcoming entry into force of the Directive on the security of information networks and systems on which agreement had been reached with the European Parliament under the Luxembourg Presidency. They also approved the agreement on the Directive aimed at making public-sector Internet sites and mobile applications accessible to the elderly and the handicapped.

Before the Council meeting, Xavier Bettel had breakfast with representatives of the fourteen member States which had co-signed a letter to the Commission affirming their ambitious vision of a single European digital market.