The framework for the Digital Decade includes the Digital Decade policy programme, the Digital Decade targets, the objectives, the multi-country projects and the Digital Decade rights & principles:

• The Digital Decade targets are measurable goals for each of the four areas: connectivity, digital skills, digital business, and digital public services.
• The Digital Decade objectives guide Member State actions. The Commission informs about the Member States’ actions in the annual report.
• The Digital Decade policy programme allows the EU and the Member States to work together to reach the Digital Decade targets and its objectives. It lays down a mechanism to monitor progress towards 2030. Every year, the Commission publishes a report to take stock of the progress made.
• The multi-country projects allows Member States to pool investments and launch large-scale, cross-border projects.
• The Digital Decade rights and principles reflect EU values, which have to be respected in the digital world, as signed in the Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles.

Targets and objectives

The Digital Decade policy programme sets out digital ambitions for the next decade in the form of clear, concrete targets. The main goals can be summarised in 4 points:

1. a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals
2. secure and sustainable digital infrastructures
3. digital transformation of businesses
4. digitalisation of public services

Related legislation:

Regulation (EU) 2021/694 establishing the Digital Europe Programme and repealing Decision (EU) 2015/2240.

Related funding:

The main source of funding is the Digital Europe Programme. The funding and tender opportunities web page gives you an overview of the topics under the Digital Europe Programme. Through the same webpage, you can browse calls for proposals (‘calls’) that are forthcoming or already open. Each call has its own call documents giving you more precise information on some of the issues that the European Commission would like you to address in your proposal.

In addition, the Commission helps Member States identifying, setting-up and implement multi-country projects. To set-up a multi-country project where there is no other legal instrument, the Digital Decade policy programme introduced a new legal structure, the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) which enables swift and flexible implementation.

In 2024, the Commission published the second report on the Union’s progress towards the implementation of multi-country projects.