The European People’s Party, within the framework of the SME Europe initiative, organised a lively debate on the importance of the Digital Single Market (DSM) for app developers on 15th September, in the European Parliament.
Members of the debate at the Digital Single Market event.
The Apps Alliance was invited to speak. Catriona Meehan (Alliance EU Policy Director) shared the panel with MEPs Pablo Zalba Bidegain (Vice-Chair of ECON and Chairman of the SME WG Digital Agenda) and Eric Mamer (Deputy Head of Cabinet Commissioner Oettinger). MEPs Bendt Bendtsen (ITRE Committee, Vice President of SME Europe), Heinz Becker (MEP, LIBE Committee), Attila Rácz (CEO of Magic Solutions) and Dr. Gi Won On (president of Korean Research and Innovation Centre Europe) were there to open and conclude the debate.
The different speakers had varying opinions, but they all recognised the potential of apps in improving the quality of life, employment, and GDP.
MEP Becker presented proposals to solve data protection issues, when considering data as the “currency of the Digital Market.” The MEP Zalba Bidegain’s very positive statements were on boosting access to capital markets and reducing cross-border bureaucracy. He called for favourable investment conditions, which should be implemented as soon as possible.
Eric Mamer, while outlining the Commission’s priorities, mentioned the need of “speeding up” the economy through the deployment of high-speed internet, reduction of fragmentation, and the creation of a solid competitiveness amongst international markets.
The key takeaways:
Alliance EU Policy Director, Catriona Meehan.
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What We Understood: The App industry is well-perceived, well-known in principle but quite tricky to understand in detail: we will work in close contact with policy makers and other stakeholders in order to explain who are our developers, how they work, what they get excited about, what types of support they need to grow and scale up.
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What We Are Doing: The European Parliament has already shown a great interest in the digital ecosystem and continues to confirm it. The European Commission noticed the great momentum growing around our industry, and committed to analysing the sector aiming at reducing barriers. And making sure that the sector thrives.
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How We Will Keep The Debate Going: Data protection and privacy are still the focuses of our discussion, and consequently of our thoughts. Concerns have been raised around the issues of compliance and consumer trust. We are committed to showing the efforts that developers put into ensuring the safety and security of apps, and how they care about observing privacy and data protection rules.
Open questions, open talks. Let us know what you think and don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Alliance team at Policy@AppsAlliance.org.
For further information, read more here.
Claudia Trivilino
European Policy Manager
