The Commission's Initiative on a Digital Agenda for Europe, launched in August 2010, set out the Commission's priorities in the field of the digital economy and highlighted the creation of a single market for content and telecoms. In May 2015, the Commission adopted a Digital Single Market (“DSM”) Strategy for Europe Communication which sets out an ambitious plan to remove barriers to a true DSM. The DSM Strategy included 16 specific initiatives, which were delivered by the Commission by January 2017.

In 2016, the Commission set out a vision for a European Gigabit Society, which focuses on boosting connectivity in the EU and outlines the Commission’s connectivity objectives for 2025 which center on better, faster and more widespread connectivity everywhere.

From the beginning of her tenure as President of the European Commission in December 2019, President von der Leyen stressed the need to lead the transition to make 'a Europe fit for the digital age'. In July 2020, the European Council agreed on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (“the Facility”), designed to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and the challenges posed by the green and digital transitions. In order to receive funds from the Facility, Member States must prepare national recovery and resilience plans of which at least 20% must be allocated in support of digital transformation.