Preparatory work for a new european commission

Goals of this page

This page is intended to gather the preparatory works for the campaign before the nomination of a new European Commission. Group descriptions of the candidate commissioners and their responsibilities. It also intends to group a set of best practices in order to prepare an association as La Quadrature du Net for a new European Commission.

2014 - 2019 Commission

Description of the candidates commissioners regarding La Quadrature du Net's campaigns

Cecilia Malmström

• Nationality: Swedish
• Political Groupe: ALDE
• Portfolio: Trade
• Responsible or associated committees: INTA - Committee on International Trade (RC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Continuing to engage fully in the World Trade Organisation and multilateral trade processes. The EU must continue to champion global and multilateral action in this field and push the post-Bali work programme and multilateral negotiations forward.
  • Working towards a reasonable and balanced Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States of America, which neither threatens Europe’s safety, health, social and data protection standards, nor jeopardises our cultural diversity. I will ask you to enhance transparency towards citizens and the European Parliament during all steps of the negotiations. Our aim must be to conclude the negotiations on a reciprocal and mutually beneficial basis.
  • Taking forward the various bilateral and regional negotiations which have been launched and considering whether new negotiations should be launched.
  • Developing, in close cooperation with the Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, a strong foreign direct investment policy.
  • Taking stock of the use of our trade defence instruments so that we can decide on the best way forward.
  • Working closely with the High-Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President, the Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development and the Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs to strengthen the EU’s strategic partnership with Africa.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140917HEA64702

• Comments after the hearings:
  • Even if her hearing sounded promising, the leaked note about some back-room agreement on ISDS in TAFTA put doubt on if she could be trusted or not. Malmström denied everything but are never too cautious.

Günther Oettinger

• Nationality: German
• Political Group: EPP
• Portfolio: Digital Economy and Society
• Responsible or associated committees:
  • ITRE Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (RC)
  • CULT Committee on Culture and Education (RC)
  • IMCO Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (AC)
  • JURI Committee on Legal Affairs (AC)
  • LIBE Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (AC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Preparing, as part of the project team steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, ambitious legislative steps towards a connected Digital Single Market. You should be ready to present these within the first six months, and they should be based on a clear assessment of the main obstacles still to be removed through EU action, either by implementing existing policies or proposing new measures. More ambition should be added to the ongoing reform of our telecoms rules. A harmonised approach to radio spectrum between Member States should be developed. Copyright rules should be modernised, during the first part of this mandate, in the light of the digital revolution, new consumer behaviour and Europe’s cultural diversity.
  • Contributing, as part of the project team steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, to the jobs, growth and investment package to be presented within the first three months of our mandate. I would like you to be very hands-on in terms of working with Member States to bring about the conditions necessary for investment decisions and ensure that the EU can be a catalyst for public and private investment. You should focus on supporting the deployment of a high-quality, digital network infrastructure, underpinning all sectors of the economy across borders, progressively on a continental scale.
  • Supporting the development of creative industries and of a successful European media and content industry able to reach out to new audiences, adapt to the digital era and thrive in the connected Digital Single Market.
  • Supporting, in close cooperation with the first Vice-President, in charge of Better Regulation,

Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, freedom of expression, freedom of information, freedom and pluralism of the media, the openness of the internet and cultural and linguistic diversity.

• • Contributing to activities that turn digital research into successful European innovation stories, encouraging entrepreneurship and providing a framework that drives start-ups, the take-up of

new businesses and job-creation. The Commission needs to play its role in ensuring that promising new developments such as the cloud, the Internet of Things and big data can thrive in Europe and that citizens, innovative web entrepreneurs and other businesses can take full advantage of their potential.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140917HEA64706

• Comments after the hearing:
  • La Quadrature du Net published a note criticizing his pro-industry positions.
  • He clearly stated that he won't support network neutrality.
  • His competences and knowledge about the Internet and its implications in our societies seem quite poor.

Vĕra Jourovà

• Nationality: Czech
• Political Group: ALDE
• Portfolio: Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality
• Responsible or associated committees:
  • IMCO - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (RC)
  • JURI - Committee on Legal Affairs (RC)
  • LIBE - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (RC)of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights
  • FEMM - Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (RC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Supporting the first Vice-President, in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in concluding the process of accession of the EU to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe, in making sure that all Commission proposals respect the Charter of Fundamental Rights and in consolidating the Commission’s role in protecting the Rule of Law. You will also work with the High-Representative for the Union’s Foreign Policy and Security/Vice-President to promote our values in our external relations.
  • Ensuring that, within the scope of EU competences, discrimination is fought and gender equality promoted, including by exploring how to unblock negotiations on the Commission proposal for the Horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive.
  • Contributing, as part of the project team steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, to the realisation of a connected digital single market by ensuring the swift adoption of the EU data protection reform and by modernising and simplifying consumer rules for online and digital purchases.
  • Concluding negotiations on a comprehensive EU-U.S. data protection agreement which provides justiciable rights for all EU citizens, regardless of where they reside, as well as reviewing the Safe Harbour arrangement.
  • Reinforcing, as part of the project teams steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness and the Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, the contribution of EU justice policies to our jobs and growth agenda, including through an assessment of the performance of judicial systems in the context of the European Semester of economic policy coordination.
  • Coordinating all the Commission’s work in criminal matters and reinforcing judicial cooperation in this field. Putting an independent European Public Prosecutor’s Office in place by 2016 will be a significant step forward to protect the EU budget from fraud.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140918HEA65206

• Comments after the hearing:
  • Jourovà was not particularly convincing during her audition, she didn't engaged herself on many topics.
  • She declared to update Data Protection system in the next 6 months.
  • A good point was that she stated that she won't made any compromise with the USA or anyone else about Data Protection within international agreements.

Andrus Ansip

• Nationality: Estonian
• Political Group: ALDE
• Portfolio: Vice-President for Digital Single Market
• Responsible or associated committees:
  • IMCO - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (RC)
  • ITRE - Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (AC)
  • LIBE - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (AC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Bringing together the different regulatory powers of the Commission to complete the Digital Single Market.
  • Steering and coordinating, within the first six months of the mandate, ambitious legislative steps towards a connected Digital Single Market, notably by adding more ambition to the ongoing reform of our telecoms rules, modernising copyright rules in the light of the ongoing digital revolution – taking full account of Europe’s rich cultural diversity – and modernising and simplifying consumer rules for online and digital purchases. This should be based on a clear assessment of the main obstacles still to be removed and the formulation of a clear long-term strategy for the Digital Single Market. You should also oversee, during the first six months of the mandate, the conclusion of negotiations on the reform of Europe’s data protection rules as well as the review of the Safe Harbour arrangement with the U.S.
  • Supporting the Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness in the project to present, within the first three months of our mandate, the jobs, growth and investment package announced in the Political Guidelines. The package should help to mobilise additional public and private investment for infrastructure such as broadband networks.
  • Coordinating work on building the framework conditions that will allow all EU citizens to participate in and benefit from the digital economy, with the same freedoms and protections online as they have offline, including by working to fight cybercrime.
  • Supporting the development of creative industries, helping Europe’s culture and audiovisual sectors to reach out to new audiences, adapt to the digital era and thrive in the connected Digital Single Market.
  • Supporting ways to make public administration more open and effective by championing the

digital and eGovernment approaches across all Member States and within the Commission, in cooperation with the Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources. You should also look at how to improve the interaction with Member States’ administrations, for example on reporting and exchanging information on systems needed to make the EU function, and facilitating cross-border interoperability between them.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140918HEA65217

• Comments after the hearing:
• Network neutrality must be enforced by law and defined by law.
  • End of geo-blocking.
  • Non-discriminatory traffic management and against censorship.
• Digital rights are the same than "analog rights".
• He declared his support to free/libre and open-source technologies.
• He wants to unify digital markets into the Digital Single Market.
• It is to note that although he is very close of La Quadrature' subjects, his though is market-driven. Plus, he expressed that he "wasn't opposed to pay more to have a faster Internet".

Elżbieta Bieńkowska

• Nationality: Polish
• Political Group: EPP
• Portfolio: Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
• Responsible or associated committees:
  • ITRE - Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (RC)
  • IMCO - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (RC)
  • ENVI - Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (AC)
  • JURI - Committee on Legal Affairs (AC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Shaping a renewed strategy for completing the internal market for goods and services. This includes – but is not limited to – reviewing the application and scope for further extending the principle of mutual recognition in the single market and designing new policy measures to address remaining obstacles to a fully functioning single market for goods and services. Action in this field, for instance on the free movement of professionals, should also contribute to the work on labour mobility led by the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.
  • Raising the profile and importance of industry in the economy, from less than 16% today towards an aspirational 20% of EU GDP by 2020. To achieve this, you need to develop, as part of the project team steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, ways of stimulating investment in new technologies, improving the business environment, easing access to markets and to finance, particularly for SMEs.
  • Contributing, as part of the project team steered and coordinated by the Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, to the success and effectiveness of the European Semester of economic policy coordination, by identifying new sources of jobs and growth, looking at remaining bottlenecks and necessary action at national and European level.
  • Playing a particular role in supporting the work of the first Vice-President, in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Right, to deliver on our better regulation agenda.
  • Encouraging Member States to create more synergies and stronger cooperation in defence procurement in order to avoid duplication of national programmes and match resources to our foreign policy ambitions.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140918HEA65212

Margrethe Vestager

• Nationality: Danish
• Political Group: ALDE
• Portfolio: Competition
• Responsible or associated committees: ECON - Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (RC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Mobilising competition policy tools and market expertise so that they contribute, as appropriate, to our jobs and growth agenda, including in areas such as the digital single market, energy policy, financial services, industrial policy and the fight against tax evasion. In this context, it will be important to keep developing an economic as well as a legal approach to the assessment of competition issues and to further develop market monitoring in support of the broader activities of the Commission
  • Pursuing an effective enforcement of competition rules in the areas of antitrust and cartels, mergers and State aid, maintaining competition instruments aligned with market developments, as well as promoting a competition culture in the EU and world-wide.
  • Maintaining and strengthening the Commission’s reputation world-wide and promoting international cooperation in this area.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140918HEA65209

Frans Timmermans

• Nationality: Dutch
• Political Group: PES
• Portfolio: First Vice-President, in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights
• Responsible or associated committees: OCP - Open Conference of Presidents (RC)

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Coordinating the work on better regulation within the Commission, ensuring the compliance of EU proposals with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, and working with the European Parliament and the Council to remove unnecessary “red tape” at both European and national level. This includes steering the Commission’s work on the “Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme” (REFIT) of EU legislation and ensuring the quality of impact assessments underpinning our activities. I will ask you to take stock of experience and report to the College within twelve months on how our approach to better regulation could be strengthened.
  • Ensuring that the special partnership with the European Parliament, as laid down in the Framework Agreement of 2010, is pursued with full commitment, and coordinating, on behalf of the Commission, the inter-institutional work on policy programming and better law-making. I will ask you to discuss, within the first three months of the mandate, with the European Parliament and the Council, the list of pending legislative proposals and to determine whether to pursue them or not, in accordance with the principle of “political discontinuity”.
  • Coordinating and strengthening the interaction of all Commissioners with national Parliaments as a way of bringing the European Union closer to citizens and forging a new partnership with national Parliaments.
  • Ensuring that every Commission proposal or initiative complies with the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
  • Leading the dialogue between the European Commission and churches and religious associations or communities, as well as with philosophical and non-confessional organisations, in a transparent and regular manner.
  • Concluding the process of accession of the EU to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe.
  • Coordinating the Commission’s work related to the Rule of Law.
  • Coordinating the Commission’s work on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania.
  • Coordinating the work on transparency and preparing a proposal for an Inter-Institutional Agreement creating a mandatory lobby register covering the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140918HEA65220

Dimitris Avramopoulos

• Nationaly: Greek
• Political Group: EPP
• Portfolio: Migration and Home Affairs
• Responsible or associated committees: LIBE

• Focus points from the mission letter:
  • Developing a new European policy on regular migration. Such a policy should help Europe address skills shortages and attract the talent that it needs. A first step will be to address the shortcomings of the “Blue Card” Directive: I would ask for a first review to be concluded within six months of the start of the mandate. Further steps will require reflection on the best ways to make the EU an attractive place for migration destination, on the basis of other existing models.
  • Boosting the effectiveness of the European border agency FRONTEX by developing a system to pool resources from Member States. We need to be able to put European Border Guard Teams into action quickly, with the participation of all Member States as a rule.
  • Working to ensure the full and consistent implementation of the Common European Asylum System. We should look at an extended role for the European Asylum Support Office, with a particular focus on working with and in third countries. We should also develop a strategy for improving our response to emergency situations.
  • Working with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President and the Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development on ways to improve cooperation with third countries on these aspects, including on readmission.
  • Focusing on the fight against crime with a clear link to EU policies, such as human trafficking, smuggling and cybercrime and helping to tackle corruption, also by strengthening police cooperation.
  • Identifying where the EU can make a real difference in fighting terrorism and countering radicalisation, ensuring the respect of fundamental rights. We should be able to define operational measures which can have a concrete impact on issues such as “foreign fighters”.
  • Working closely with the High-Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President, the Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development and the Commissioner for Trade to strengthen the EU’s strategic partnership with Africa.

• Link: http://www.elections2014.eu/en/new-commission/hearing/20140917HEA64710

• Comments after the hearing:
  • Although his portfolio isn't directly connected with La Quadrature's themes. During his hearings there were various comments on Data Retention and PNR system.
  • His main comment was that future legislation on Data Retention has to take into account the EUCJ's landmark ruling (pdf) (8 April 2014).
  • Avramopoulos didn't make any strong statement as it seems to be divided between the protection of European borders, Frontex and the EUCJ ruling. However, he reassured everyone that was asking that future legislation will be done within the respect of fundamental rights and to avoid disproportionate measures.