The European Commission wants to ask the audience to help it formulate its strategy for building a digital economy that thrives.

Meanwhile in the UK, Gordon Brown has chosen to phone a friend, reportedly parachuting in a former ecommerce minister Stephen Timms, to make sure the Digital Britain report published in June is acted upon.

The European Commission’s report on Digital Competitiveness was released yesterday, and alongside it a challenge to Europe’s consumers; they must give it advice on the future strategy to be taken in order that the digital economy maximises its potential.

The Commission says that the development of Europe’s digital industry is going to be crucial to the economy’s revival. But I’m not sure that Europe’s politicians are asking the public the right questions.

For instance, it has asked the tech-savvy 16-24 age range whether they are willing to pay to download music and videos. It’s hardly a surprise that 33 per cent said that they don’t want to pay anything at all. If you ask me whether I wanted to pay for the last pretty dress I bought, or whether I would have liked someone to have sent it to me for free, guess what my answer would be?

A third of EU citizens have never used the internet, and only 7 per cent have shopped online from a site in another European country. UK online retailers can’t launch Euro sites quick enough, so maybe the Commission should focus on fixing the barriers to cross-border ecommerce that it has already identified, rather than asking more questions that it already knows the answer to.

Closer to home, our own politicians are taking a different approach. Stephen Timms is understood to have been handed the role of Minister for Communications. The Digital Britain report published in June sets out a plan to support the digital economy, and Timms will be tasked with pushing through its recommendations.

For instance, he will have to try and bring in the £6 a year tax on phone lines that is planned to fund universal broadband plans. The future development of ecommerce will be dependent on fast and reliable internet connections for all.

If politicians want more ecommerce millionaires then this is the type of decisive action that they must be prepared to take.

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