European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal for the next College of Commissioners, announced on Tuesday (17 September), is to split the tech portfolio into a maze-like organogram.
At a glance, Finland’s Henna Virkkunen sits atop the pyramid as executive vice-president (EVP) for Tech Sovereignty, Democracy, and Security. Her portfolio includes cloud, artificial intelligence and quantum, and she will lead the Commission’s DG CNECT, responsible for digital policy.
But many of the pieces of the tech puzzle are split between at least five other EVPs and commissioners, leaving even the most experienced EU watchers disoriented.
“It is a complex new structure where the Commission has to to adapt to the changes,” and MEPs still have to examine the details, said Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) to Euractiv.
Many MEPs that Euractiv spoke to echoed the sentiment that what von der Leyen presented on Tuesday was a confusing structure with plenty of overlaps.
Upon examining each nominee’s mission letter, it emerges that Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu is to lead algorithmic management and the right to disconnect as EVP for People, Skills and Preparedeness. Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi will regulate addictive design of social media platforms as commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare.
Ireland’s Michael McGrath is tasked with keeping disinformation in check and steering the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, as commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva should be in charge of setting up an EU strategy for startups and scale-ups as commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, while Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius is to oversee the new EU space law as as commissioner for Defence and Space.
“What worries me though is that ‘digital’ as an encompassing term is not even mentioned” in the portfolio titles, MEP Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) told Euractiv.
The way portfolios have been distributed to the 26 Commissioners is a way to incentivise negotiations between them, MEP Sandro Gozi (Renew, France) told Euractiv. But it may also be a way to divide and conquer.
“It is a very presidential Commission [designed to] increase the President’s power,” said Gozi.
Gozi’s French liberal colleague, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, told Euractiv that she was “bit puzzled by the fragmentation proposed regarding digital policy.”
Yon-Courtin is skeptical as to whether the overlapping portfolios can effectively deliver on the mission of tech sovereignty – reducing Europe’s dependencies on third countries across the tech stack.
“One digital face” to tackle Big Tech
The split of the competition and digital portfolios is particularly noteworthy.
Over the past mandate, the Commission’s competition arm was focused on reigning in anticompetitive behaviour by Big Tech. Internal market committee chair Anna Cavazzini (Greens, Germany) hopes that dividing the two briefs will not “hinder enforcing market rules and consumer rights vis-à-vis Big Tech companies,” she told Euractiv, describing the split as “unfortunate.”
Her compatriot Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens) thinks it remains to be seen how “the relationship between civil and military tech issues […] as well as foreign affairs and misinformation issues will play out.”
Referring to well-documented issues between outgoing competition chief Margrethe Vestager and former single market commissioner Thierry Breton, Lagodinsky welcomed that Virkkunen will be “one digital face” for EU policy, as opposed to the previous power struggle in the EU executive.
“Achieving Europe’s 2030 Digital Decade targets, including by improving access to secure, fast and reliable connectivity for everyone,” will be a key topic for Virkkunen, Hungarian MEP Dóra Dávid (EPP) told Euractiv, as will the protection of “European children online against cyberbullying and addictive designs.”
For Eva Maydell (EPP, Bulgaria), the fact that “competitiveness and strengthening the single market” are “cross-cutting issues for all portfolios” is “encouraging.”
Meanwhile, German EPP member Angelika Niebler welcomed that the new commissioner in charge of implementation and simplification, Valdis Dombrovskis, will report directly to President von der Leyen, as reducing regulatory red tape for EU tech companies is “an important task.”
[Edited by Owen Morgan]
