The UK government keeps talking about having the best broadband in Europe by 2015, but that target – poorly defined and unlikely to stand up to scrutiny as it is – shouldn’t be the end point. Other countries are already looking way beyond the next few years, while the UK looks likely to fall over panting even if it reaches its finishing line.

The government has made much fuss about the £530 million it’s pumped into projects run by Broadband Delivery UK – with all the work so far handed to BT in a bid to meet goals of 90% of the population having access to 25Mbits/sec, with a minimum 2Mbits/sec for those left behind.

It’s better than nothing, but there’s nothing else on the agenda. Once that money’s been spent by BT, there’s not much left in the pot — a few scattered rural funds, and some money for fibre in the UK’s major cities. Even in the unlikely event that the UK really does have the best broadband in the continent by 2015, it’s likely to be a briefly held title.

France, for example, last week unveiled a €20bn plan to provide high-speed fibre  broadband to every single house in the country. It’s an ambitious plan that promises an annual investment of €200m over the next ten years.

Europe has invested nearly as much in UK fibre projects as the government, not that you’d know that from the press notices sent out by the Department for Media, Culture, and Sport

France – much of it rural – has a long way to catch up in terms of fibre, but at least it has long-term goals. The UK’s targets are pedestrian by comparison, and there’s no schedule for improving the situation in the future.

The difference between France and the UK is only one example of the way we treat broadband investment compared with the rest of Europe, where it’s given greater priority. Indeed, Europe has invested nearly as much in UK fibre projects as the government, not that you’d know that from the press notices sent out by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Take, for example, the news of initial progress on a project to connect Wales, with the DCMS taking credit for project’s viability due to a £57m investment. No mention at all of the £90m European Structural Funding for the project.

It was a similar story in Lancashire with the government’s £10.8 million input getting star billing above the £16.5 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

MPs might like to knock Europe when it suits them, but in terms of broadband, money from Brussels is making a difference.