由于受到世界金融危机的严重冲击，欧盟经济在2008年中陷入衰退，并在2009年处于深度衰退，几乎所有成员国经济都呈现出负增长。为了应对经济衰退，除了相关的财政和货币政策外，欧盟委员会特别重视数字欧洲战略的实施，确定了2009年可以立即采取的行动以及未来5年应优先进行的重点行动。同时，欧盟计划在2010年出台新的信息通信技术战略，以推动经济复苏并为“里斯本增长和就业战略”的实施作出贡献。
Because of the global financial crisis，the European economy went into recession in the middle of 2008. In 2009，all the EU member states experienced negative growth. In order to respond to the recession，the European states enacted a number of fiscal and monetary policies and measures. In addition，the EU also laid out a strategy called “Digital Europe”，including actions to be adopted immediately in 2009 and those priorities to be implemented in the next five years. Meanwhile，the EU planned to present a new European ICT strategy in 2010，targeted at promoting the economic recovery and at contributing to the enforcement of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs.
