Meeting in Riga, in Lithuania, last week, the ministers of 34 European countries (EU, candidates, European Economic Space) approved a “pan-European action aimed at helping citizens to overcome the disadvantages of economic, social, educational, and geographical type, or those linked to disability, through information and communication technologies”. So-called eInclusion has long formed one of the primary objectives of the European Commission, to which some specific programmes funded by the Community budget are now being dedicated. The ministerial statement of Riga enunciates six principal objectives. It particular it aims to reduce by 50% by 2010 “the number of people who don’t use the Internet within groups threatened by exclusion (the elderly, disabled or unemployed)”, the accessibility of all public websites by 2010 and the preparation by 2008 of “measures in the sector of digital literacy with the aim of reducing by half the disparities suffered by groups threatened by exclusion”. a target=’_blanck’ href=http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/einclusion/index_en.htmhttp://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/einclusion/index_en.htm
