THE EUROPEAN UNION'S ICT FOCUSED POLICIES AS A MEANS TO ACHIEVE COMPETITIVENESS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The ever-changing nature of the modern environment poses great challenges on both the macroeconomic and macroeconomic level. Factors like globalization, internationalization and vulnerability to financial crises affect not just the wellbeing of individuals or organizations. Whole countries and regional integration groups are being affected. The European Union is no exception to this trend. Internal problems and external pressures are the reason for the preparation of long term strategies to strengthen the European Union position in the global market and to improve its competitiveness. The use of ICT as a mean to improve the EU's competitiveness and the development of the information society is of unfaltering interest to the European Union since the 1990s. It is possible to observe how the approach to the development of the information society and wider use of ICT has changed over time. Initially, EU initiatives focused mainly on proper arrangement and keeping the legal framework up to date. Subsequently, greater attention has been paid to the necessity for a more direct approach like R&D, the provision of public e-services and the development of certain skills, needed to fully use the potential offered by ICT, e-content, security and many others. The aim of this article is to analyse EU strategies and documents dealing with the development of the information society and the widespread use of ICT as a means to improve the EU's position and competitiveness in a global economy.