On 15 September 2021 during the State of the Union speech, the Commission's president announced a robust governance framework to reach the digital targets in the form of a Path to the Digital Decade to achieve the digital transformation digital compass targets by 2030. A draft decision proposed by the Commission establishes the Policy Programme ‘Path to the Digital Decade’ and sets out a monitoring and cooperation mechanism consisting of measures to:

- set a clear direction for the digital transformation of the Union and for delivery of the digital targets;

- structure and stimulate cooperation between the Union institutions and Member States;

- ensure the consistency, comparability and completeness of the monitoring and reporting by the Union.

The proposed Decision also establishes a framework for multi-country projects.

At the Parliament the legislative file has been assigned to the Industry, Research and Energy committee (ITRE).

The rapporteur published her draft report on 3 March 2022, and it was discussed at the ITRE committee meeting of 22 March 2022. The report was adopted on 17 May 2022 at the ITRE Committee meeting with 74 votes to 1, with 1 abstention. MEPs also voted the mandate to enter into negotiations with Council with 74 votes to 0, and 2 abstentions. The mandate was endorsed by Parliament during the June plenary session.

On 11 May 2022 the Council adopted its position. Trilogue inter-institutional negotiations started on 23 June 2023. The first trilogue took place under the French presidency on 22 June 2022. During the second trilogue on 13 July 2022 an agreement was reached.  Coreper I, assembling the deputy representatives of the EU Member States at the Council, formally approved the text on 22 July. At the Parliament, the ITRE committee voted it on 1 September 2022 with 64 votes to 1 and the Parliament did it in its plenary of 24 November 2022 with 522 votes to 29, with 25 abstentions. The Council adopted the agreement on 8 December 2022. The decision entered into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (on 19 December 2022). It will be directly binding on Member States without transposition into national law.

On 30 June 2023 the Commission adopted the key performance indicators (KPIs) to allow for measuring progress made in achieving the 2030 Digital Decade targets, and issued guidance on how Member States should structure their national roadmaps, to reach the digital targets.

The first report on the State of the Digital Decade was published on 27 September 2023. It provides a comprehensive look at progress towards achieving the digital targets by 2030. EU Member States shall present their national strategic roadmaps to the European Commission by 9 October 2023. The report was presented in ITRE committee during its meeting of 7 December 2023.

The second report on the State of the Digital Decade was published in July 2024 and includes for the first time the national roadmaps. 

    References:

• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file 2030 Policy Programme “Path to the Digital Decade”, 2021/0293(COD)
• European Commission, Implementing decision setting out key performance indicators to measure the progress towards the digital targets established by Article 4(1) of Decision (EU) 2022/2481 of the European Parliament and of the Council, C(2023) 4288 final
• European Commission, Guidance to the Member States on the preparation of the national Digital Decade strategic roadmaps, C(2023) 4025 final
• European Commission, Proposal for a Decision establishing the 2030 Policy Programme “Path to the Digital Decade”, COM (2021)574
• Ursula von der Leyen and Maroš Šefčovič, State of the Union 2021 - Letter of intent to President David Maria Sassoli and Prime Minister Janez Janša, 15 September 2021
• European Commission: Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles, COM(2022) 28
• Decision 2022/2481 of 14 December 2022 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030

    Further reading:

• European Parliament,  2030 policy programme: 'Path to the digital decade, Plenary At a Glance briefing, EPRS, November, 2022
• European Parliament,  Path to the Digital Decade programme, Legislative briefing, EPRS, February 2023

Author: Mar Negreiro, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu