Europe and the Information Society

Abstract

Of the 17 countries in Western Europe, 15 are subject to the authority of the institutions of the European Union and the two exceptions are distinctly minor players in telecommunications terms. Acting usually at the behest of member states, policy measures are originated by the Commission, the EU’s civil service, which also enforces EU law. The process by which the Commission has become increasingly involved in the development of an EU-wide telecommunications policy has been admirably described in Schneider, Dang-Nguyen and Werle (1994) and does not need to be reiterated in detail here.