European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience

Question for written answer  E-000771/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Beata Mazurek (ECR)

It is clear that the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath will cause lasting changes to the lives of all Europeans, increasing their specific need for high-level digital competences in every area of social and professional life. The financial resources for this should be distributed fairly: in other words, in proportion to the extent of necessary actions taken by the individual Member States and, within them, by individual regions to ensure that all their inhabitants, young and old, are fairly equipped with the requisite skills to support economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Action needs to be taken on many levels to ensure that digital strategies bring tangible benefits to rural communities such as the region around Lublin, where I am from, and reduce the risk of digital exclusion. In the light of the above, I would like to ask the following:

• 1.How will the Commission support the Member States in increasing the level of digitisation of education and training provided for vulnerable social groups in rural areas?
• 2.Is the Commission planning to allocate additional financial resources to rural areas such as the region around Lublin to ensure that their inhabitants have equal access to digital skills, tools and technologies?