Cutajar joins MEP call for European Charter for Digital Rights

Labour MEP Josianne Cutajar and other S&D MEPs have penned a request to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, calling for a European Charter for Digital Rights.

In the letter to the President of the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, the MEPs state that although much progress has been made on digitalisation, a new social pact is now needed to regulate a fair and inclusive society in the digital context.

“MEPs stressed that these rights should be for Europeans from Europeans, and therefore through the Conference of the Future of Europe there is a need to boost proposals such as the recognition of internet access as a human right,” Cutajar said.

Cutajar has been seeking the entry into force of internet access as a human right since last year. In a question to the European Commission, she proposed that the Commission considers initiatives and steps in this direction.

Cutajar has stressed this point multiple times in the Conference on the Future of Europe, where as the Maltese representative for the Socialist Group, she forms part of the Digital Working Group.

“In an ever-changing world, there is a need to update laws and even human rights from time to time,” Cutajar said.

“I am proud to push for rights which ensure that the most vulnerable – and society in general – are able to access more services, information, communication and better work via the internet. With the pressure that my colleagues and I are exerting, we need to ensure more concrete work by the European institutions for strengthened digital rights in the coming time.”