Two Decades of E-Learning Policy Evolution at EU Level: motivations, institutions and instruments Florin D. Salajan & Elizabeth A. Roumell Introduction E-learning policy development in the EU presents a unique and interesting case for analysis. In the broader sense, policy formulation at the EU level in virtually any domain typically serves the larger goals of European integration, with the aim of promoting an equitable distribution of resources, opportunities and initiatives across its Member States. As such, these policies strive to com- plement policies at Member State level, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the Treaty on the European Union (TEU). E-learning policy formulation has relatively recently become a domain of interest for the European Commission, mainly as a result of the initially disparate approaches to the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in education at Member State level (Salajan, 2007, 2013). In the last two decades, a greater involvement of the European Commission can be observed in initiating, drafting and proposing policies that include ideas for a more cohesive approach to ICT implementation in the educational systems of the Member States. The initial impetus for e-learning policy at EU level was given by the realisation that ICTs had become an essential component in transactions in many domains of social and economic life across the EU, as evidenced by the Commission’s preoc- cupation with the emergence of the information society (European Commission, 1994a, 1994b). In addition, the EU had come to the conclusion that other global polities, namely the US and Japan, were ahead in their efforts to integrate tech- nologies in education as a means to promote competitiveness in their newly- emerging information-intensive economies (European Commission, 1996). Thus, the EU saw itself as lagging behind its main competitors in its ambitions to become a leading political and economic powerhouse (Preston, 2003; Salajan, 2008). E-learning policy is just one of the avenues through which the EU’s competitive- ness would be accomplished, and the competences it accrued in this sector are worthy of inquiry. This article documents the historical development of e-learning policies at EU level by conducting a discourse and content analysis of four key e-learning policy documents drafted and implemented by the European Commission in the last two decades: Learning in the Information Society: Action Plan for a European Education Initiative (1996–1998), the eLearning Action Plan (2001–2004), the eLearning Programme (2004–2006) and the Lifelong Learning Programme (2006–2013). By using the policy analysis framework developed by Mendez and Mendez (2010), the aim of the study was to identify the motivations of actors at EU level in formulating e-learning policy over time and how the interactions among the various actors involved resulted in the policy documents mentioned above. Hence, a systematic and methodical analysis was conducted that was not previously present in the research literature concerning EU-level e-learning policy. An overview of the European Journal of Education,Vol. ••, No. ••, 2015 DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12144 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd