Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

34On this week delegations <strong>of</strong> 24 <strong>European</strong> parliamentary assemblies from the <strong>European</strong> Unionand the Newly Accessing Countries met in Helsinki and Tallinn. During two days, they discussedthe opportunities and challenges <strong>of</strong> Information Society developments for politics and society,and exchanged experience about the use <strong>of</strong> information and communication technologies inparliamentary workflows.Earlier Conferences were dedicated to issues such as the use <strong>of</strong> ICT to better legislate or bettercommunicate with the citizens, training and education for an Information Society open for all,skills requirements and new employment opportunities in the new economy, or regulatory aspects<strong>of</strong> eCommerce.During the debates the delegates welcomed the many initiatives to take forward the InformationSociety such as the eEurope and eEurope+ Action Plans. The delegates were impressed bythe progress made in accelerating the development <strong>of</strong> the Information Society since 1999 andappreciated the efforts made by the EU and its member states. The potential <strong>of</strong> the new informationand communication technologies is, however, far from being fully explored in the politicalarena. A more effective use <strong>of</strong> the potential is to a considerable degree depending on a quickerdevelopment towards universal access to these technologies. Democratic and educational aspectsare getting more and more important.The concerns <strong>of</strong> the parliamentarians are:• To further strengthen parliamentary democracy• To make greater use <strong>of</strong> electronic networks in <strong>European</strong> Governance and• To fully integrate democratic considerations into the eGovernment debateRepresenting their citizens and controlling the government are the most important tasks forparliamentarians in democracy. Information Society tools open up opportunities to improve theachievement <strong>of</strong> these tasks. Parliamentarians have to take an active and leading role in thetransition to the Information Society and the new information and communication tools shouldbe used to increase the understanding, interest and involvement in parliamentarian activities.A new communication culture between citizens and their representatives is urgently requested.Parliamentarians have to better understand the structural changes the Information Society willbring about, but also need the resources and support <strong>of</strong> Governments to improve the efficiency andtransparency <strong>of</strong> their work.The delegates expressed concern about the low levels <strong>of</strong> participation in all kind <strong>of</strong> political debate,decision-making and elections. It was agreed that information and communication technologies<strong>of</strong>fer useful tools to involve citizens better into political decision-making, to increase interest inpolitics and strengthen representative democracy. A better and more democratic access to internetis crucial. The assembly pointed out that balanced investigations and efforts have to be made withregard to technical, legal, educational and social aspects in order to make secure online votingavailable.A White Paper on <strong>European</strong> Governance has been published recently by the <strong>European</strong> Commission.It proposes improvements to the framework <strong>of</strong> institutions and for their interactions in an interestingway. However, the delegates were very disappointed about the little attention given to networkopportunities.