“The report on the Operational Programme “Information Society” for 2005 is positive” announced Professor V. Asimakopoulos, Special Secretary for the Information Society.

Completion of the Programme

“The target we set for 2005 was the completion of the planning of the Programme. This target was achieved and the planning of the Programme was concluded on 31/12/2005; the integrations of the projects reach the 100% of the public expenditure budget”, said Mr. Asimakopoulos. The Programme “Information Society” is among the first Operational Programmes of the 3rd CSF which conclude their planning.

The fast acceleration in planning was feasible through interventions aiming at services for citizens and enterprises, especially in the Regions.

An indicative intervention for 2005 towards this direction was the financing of more than 40 digital bodies for the provision of services for the citizens, through 117 new projects of a total budget of 97 million euros, while there was a big intervention for “Digital Local Authorities” which gives the opportunity to all the Organisations of Local Authorities to develop digital services for the citizens of the Regions as well as to familiarize the citizens of each area with new technologies.

Emphasis was given in 2005 to the actions for the development of fast Internet; the most characteristic of all was the completion of the planning of the big development project of broadband local access infrastructures and the strengthening of the demand for broadband services in the Regions. The total budget of the project comes up to 196 million Euros, whereas the file of the project was submitted in the end of 2005 to the European Commission and it is estimated that the big project will be tendered in March, 2006.

Mr. Asimakopoulos stressed the initiative of 2005 for the establishment of a Venture Capital Fund with the aim of achieving the Digital Leap amounting to 100 million Euros. The target of the fund is the facilitation of the access for small and medium sized technology enterprises to venture capitals in the beginning or during the inititial stage of their operation.

Estimation for zero losses of resources in 2005 for the Operational Programme “Information Society” 

Mr. Asimakopoulos mentioned that “it is estimated that there will not be any loss of resources from the Programme for 2005 and this is due to the big managerial effort made”.

The resources absorption index of the Programme came up to 33.7% of the public expenditure budget in 31/12/2005.

In 2006, it is up to the implementators to continue

As regards the next steps of the Programme, Mr. Asimakopoulos stated that “it is up to the implementators to continue in 2006. In 2006, the implementators (bodies, ministries) must follow the rates of acceleration achieved in 2005 in planning and achieve the goal for contracts in the 100% of the Programme’s budget. A relevant high performance must be achieved by the implementators in implementing projects and absorbing resources. This is the priority for 2006”.