site.btaConference Looks at Digital Economy in the Agenda of the Bulgarian Presidency of EU Council

Sofia, October 2 (BTA) - Addressing a conference on "Europe at the Forefront of Digital Transformation" in Sofia Monday, the Bulgarian Minister of the Presidency of the EU Council, Liliyana Pavlova, and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev spoke about the agenda of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2018.

The forum was organized by the American Chamber in Bulgaria.

The digital economy is omnipresent, said Pavlova. She enlisted three priorities for the Bulgarian Presidency in this area. The top priority is improving connectivity. The second is building a strong common digital market and adopting a strategy for cyber security. The third is an economy based on free movement and exchange of data, following the adoption of the necessary legislation, she said adding that the legislative process has presently come to a halt.

"We will aim to see a single authority being set up in the area of electronic communication," said Pavlova. The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, IT and Communications will have a leading role.

Bulgaria also wants to see the adoption of an all-European action plan for e-government.

In Pavlova's words, Sofia also wants this to be "a Balkan Presidency of the EU". "In this aspect, we have three priorities for the countries in the Western Balkans. The first is to adopt a realistic agenda for EU accession. The second is counter-terrorism and migration, and the third is connectivity where we will seek ways to scarp the roaming charges for these countries," said the Bulgarian Minister.

Tomislav Donchev said 75 per cent of European entrepreneurs are aware of the importance of the digital technologies but only 20-30 per cent are making the effort to put them in use and only 5 per cent are investing in making their employees more competitive. "we are not talking about a new economy - we are talking about a new digital society," he said. "It is unrealistic to pursue the new challenges of industry 4.0 with an administration at the level of 2.0 and education at 1.0. In other words, it is not realistic to have a digital economy with analogue administration."

He said that the Bulgarian economy is expected to grow by 4 per cent this year and hopefully more next year. Its productivity is improving but some imbalances cause concern. That labour costs are growing is not necessarily only positive. The Bulgarian labour market is exhausted and a higher value added is sought. The deindustrialization of the economy is a cause of concnern. The growing share of the processing industry and of sectors where more intellectual work is needed, is encouraging, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Everybody knows how competitive the European economy is, Donchev also said. "We, however, carry heavy luggage. It is for out convenience but it makes us slower because we observe the strictest environmental standards and have the most generous social policy," he said adding that Europe pays half of the world's contributions in social policies.