President of the European Commission

President of European Commission received the 9 millionth ECDL skills card. Brussels, 12th February 2009: José Manuel Barroso, at a ceremony highlighting both the success of the ECDL programme and the necessity of keeping investment in digital skills high on the public policy agendas of all Member States in order to increase employability and build a competitive European economy.

Accepting the ECDL Skills Card, President Barroso stressed that digital literacy skills are essential for Europeans and stated that the Commission is proud to have been at the origin of the ‘great work of the ECDL programme’ and its ‘amazing’ progress in reaching 9 million Skills Cards. President Barroso noted that ‘digital literacy is part of basic competences such as reading and writing and that this is the message the Commission is conveying to all European citizens; in this difficult economic situation many workers will need to be re-trained and the digital competences they can gain will help them find new opportunities for a better life’.

For more information about the ECDL and ICDL qualification, please visit our ECDL and ICDL Course Overview page.