On 21 May, the European Council, which brings together the Member States, adopted so-called Council conclusions on the direction of digital policy in the coming years. These set out the course that the next European Commission (which will be formed after the European elections in June) will shape and implement. The main points are almost entirely in line with the points made by the four CIO associations in the manifesto published earlier this year.  

The four priorities from the manifesto are as follows:  

1. Competence: This emphasizes the importance of digital skills and knowledge for individuals and organizations to thrive in the digital world. Among other things, efforts are being made to develop professionals who can handle and develop digital technology and to retain these people for Europe. 
   
   
2. Diligence: This refers to handling technology, data, and privacy responsibly. Attention is drawn to the development of new technologies that reduce dependence on non-European economies and to increase our own competitiveness, for example through innovation and the prevention of strategic technology and its producers from falling into non-European hands. This also includes the promotion of fair competition. 
   
   
3. Vigilance: The manifesto emphasizes the importance of monitoring digital developments and responding to threats in a timely manner. It includes measures for the safety and security of products, services and processes as well as for sustainability. 
   
   
4. Governance: This is about creating an effective and inclusive governance system for the digital world. This includes implementing regulations efficiently rather than adding more new regulations, working towards better cooperation between supervisors in Member States and between Member States, and fairly allocating responsibilities to market participants who have the opportunity to implement them.  

In the Council conclusions, the European Council sets out the following main points:  

• Digitalisation is important for better quality of life, economic growth and sustainability. The digital transformation must be fair and promote human and democratic values.  

• Digital sovereignty and autonomy must be ensured in an open manner, not through exclusion, but through rules-based fair international market forces. However, it must be prevented that essential technological knowledge leaks out.   

• There is a need for better coordination, between Member States and between public and private actors, to promote (financing of) innovation and the development and application of new technologies, and access to funds should be facilitated.  

• The coming years should be dominated by the effective and efficient implementation of recently developed regulations. In doing so, regulation and innovation must remain in balance and the administrative burden of supervision must be kept to a minimum. Among other things, by focusing more on harmonized standards and certifications. 

• Security must be improved, by applying security and resilience by design and paying more attention to addressing vulnerabilities in digital products, services and processes.  

• Law enforcement authorities should be empowered to use their legitimate powers in the digital domain, while respecting citizens' rights. 

• More attention is needed on protecting infrastructure from attacks. 

• Data must be made more available within the EU in a secure and interoperable way. 

• Digital awareness, digital skills and competences need to be strengthened to enable everyone to participate in the digital world. People with these competences should be encouraged to come to or stay in the EU to support Europe's competitiveness. In doing so, extra attention should be paid to the digital gender and age gap.  

• Social safety must continue to receive attention and the possible negative impact of digitalisation on society, the economy and the environment deserves attention. 

Broadly speaking, therefore, the two pieces are similar. Deviations are mainly related to the social impact of digital technology, which receives slightly more attention in the council conclusions. It seems that CIOs are being heard and that we can expect policies from Brussels in the coming years that contribute to a digital transformation that also includes the CIO perspective. We will continue to keep a finger on the pulse and provide our inpu