The Notion of eEurope within the EU from a Legal Perspective. Challenges for the Candidate Countries after the Swedish Presidency

Abstract

The article titled the notion of eEurope within the EU from a legal perspective challenges for the candidate countries after the Swedish presidency addresses one of the most recent developments in the constantly evolving European community acquis communautire, namely the newly formulated legal and institutional frameworks for the electronic (digitalised) communication networks in the context of further completing the EC single market. The author has divided his paper into four chapters. The first part of the article deals with a descriptive introduction in relation to the main cornerstones of the historical transition process in the EU from establishing the single internal market to building up a knowledge-based information society by 2010 as decided in march 2000 at the European Council summit in Lisbon. The second chapter analyses firstly the well-known commission communication on "eEurope action plan 2002" adopted in June 2000 in Santa Maria de Freira and then addresses in more detail the scientific and the practical reflections on this programme brought by the developments under the Swedish EU presidency in the first half of 2001. The third part of the thesis covers the most important challenges stemming from the new EU concept of "eEUROPE" in terms of the Central and Eastern European applicant countries. Under this heading, the author dedicates special attention on the one hand to exploring the relevant and related Hungarian experiences (with special regard to the on-going legal alignment process to the described EC acquis in Hungary) secondly to the Goteborg European Council summit, held in June 2001. Where the famous action plan for the candidate countries on "eEurope 2003" was adopted and published by the EU member states. In the final chapter of the paper, the author tries to draw up a number of conclusions and proposals as far as the required effective and proper implementation by the candidate countries of this new type of acquis is concerned with special regard to the forthcoming codificatory difficulties and challenges in particular in terms of legal dogmatics. The paper is well-documented, logically easily followable, and based on a really wide-ranging secondary literature in terms of the explored subject.