Digital Germany 2030: Internet Policy Agenda from eco

Chair of the eco Board, Süme: "We ultimately need a digital strategy and cross-departmental coordination by a Ministry of Digitalisation with central competencies and its own budget, in order to unlock the value creation potential of digitalisation."

From the perspective of eco - Association of the Internet Industry, the political structures and frameworks for digitalisation in Germany are inadequate. As a result, many long-term digital policy issues have once again not been resolved in this legislative period.

To achieve digital transformation in Germany in the next legislative period and implement a coherent, effective digital policy, the association is calling for a fundamental restructuring of digital policy decision-making processes and procedures. From the eco Association's perspective, a Ministry of Digitalisation must play the most important role, acting as the central control unit to advance the digitalisation of the state, economy and society with binding specifications. This ministry should consolidate the expertise for managing networks, services and projects under one roof and promote the implementation of digital transformation in Germany across all government departments.

This is one of ten core political demands of the Internet industry for the next legislative period, presented by the eco Association today as part of its Internet Policy Agenda.

"Digitalisation is the engine for sustainable transformation and competitiveness of our economy, and is the foundation for value creation. To finally harness these potentials, the next federal government must decisively drive forward the digital transformation of administration, economy and society and consistently enforce digital policy frameworks," says eco Chair Oliver Süme. This requires a stringent digital strategy and a Ministry of Digitalisation. "Cross-departmental coordination and enforcement of this strategy by a Ministry for Digitalisation with central competencies and its own digital budget is the fundamental prerequisite for successful digital policy," Süme continues.

According to eco Association, the goal should be to create a Ministry of Digitalisation that, on the one hand, implements and monitors central regulatory requirements uniformly to avoid delays and contradictions in digital legislation, as has been observed in past legislative periods. At the same time, the Ministry of Digitalisation must be capable to centrally regulate key aspects of digitalisation, thus ensuring unified regulation that doesn't get lost in the specific interests of individual departments.

Vision for Digital Germany 2030 as a foundation

In order to successfully establish this Ministry of Digitalisation and make it effective in its work, the association calls for a "Digital Germany 2030" vision based on the upcoming coalition agreement and validated through dialogue with society and the economy. This vision will centrally define important content priorities and milestones in various digital policy aspects for politics and administration.

The digitalisation of the administration must be driven forward as a priority leverage project.

In the field of cybersecurity, eco calls for clear responsibilities and allowing existing regulations to take effect before introducing new laws. New laws and regulations must be harmonised with those already in place. The goal should also be to avoid placing an even greater burden on the companies concerned with further reporting and documentation obligations.

The association also emphasises the fundamental importance of a robust ecosystem of digital infrastructure for Germany as an innovation and business location and for further digital transformation. This includes, in particular, innovation and investment-friendly frameworks, especially for data centre infrastructure, as a prerequisite for competitive AI systems. The next German federal government is urged to further promote the expansion of this ecosystem by providing the appropriate framework conditions.

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