European Commissioner for Digital and Frontier Technologies

Last updated

European Commissioner for Digital and Frontier Technologies
Flag of the European Union.svg
Flag of the EU
1718869849735 20240619 VIRKKUNEN Henna FI 008.jpg
Incumbent
Henna Virkkunen
since 1 December 2024
Member ofthe European Commission
Reports to President of the European Commission
Term length 5 years
PrecursorCommissioner for Digital Agenda
Formation7 January 1985;41 years ago (1985-01-07)
First holder Karl-Heinz Narjes

The European Commissioner for Digital and Frontier Technologies is a member of the European Commission responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT. The current officeholder is Henna Virkkunen since December 2024.

Contents

The portfolio was previously Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society (previously for Digital Agenda). Mariya Gabriel served as Digital Economy and Society Commissioner from 2017 to 2019. [1] [2]

Viviane Reding

Viviane Reding (2004–2010) found a relatively popular policy in seeking to lower roaming charges of mobile phones when travelling within the European Union, stating: "For years, mobile roaming charges have remained unjustifiably high. We are therefore tackling one of the last borders within Europe's internal market". [3] Her legislation to cap roaming charges was approved by the Parliament in April 2007. [4] Reding's successor Neelie Kroes greatly extended the range of the roaming regulation, to include data charges among others.

On 7 April 2006 the commission launched the new ".eu" TLD for websites for EU companies and citizens wishing to have a non-national European internet address. This has proved popular with 2.5M being registered by April 2007. It is now the seventh most popular TLD worldwide, and third in Europe (after .de and .uk) [5]

Reding has also proposed that major European telecom companies be forced to separate their network and service operations to promote competition in the market. The companies, including France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, would still own their networks but the separate management structure would be obliged to treat other operators on an equal basis in offering access to the network. This is opposed to separate ideas to force a full break-up of such companies. [6]

List of commissioners

In the previous Commission information society was linked with Enterprise (now linked with Industry).

#NameCountryPeriodCommission
1 Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F041436-0007, Hamburg, CDU-Bundesparteitag, Narjes.jpg Karl-Heinz Narjes Flag of Germany.svg West Germany1985–1992 Delors Commission I & II
2 Antonio Ruberti XIII legislatura.jpg Antonio Ruberti Flag of Italy.svg Italy1992–1995 Delors Commission III
3 Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F055742-0030, Bonn, FDP-Europawahlkampf, Bangemann (cropped).jpg Martin Bangemann Flag of Germany.svg Germany1995–1999 Santer Commission
4 Erkki Liikanen-FIG 2001 (cropped).jpg Erkki Liikanen Flag of Finland.svg Finland1999–2004 Prodi Commission
5 Jan Figel 2011.jpg Ján Figeľ Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia2004 Prodi Commission
6 Viviane Reding (Martin Rulsch) 01.jpg Viviane Reding Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg2004–2010 Barroso Commission I
7 Msc Neelie Kroes.jpg Neelie Kroes Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands2010–2014 Barroso Commission II
8 2015-12-14 Gunther Oettinger Parteitag der CDU Deutschlands by Olaf Kosinsky -4.jpg Günther Oettinger Flag of Germany.svg Germany2014–2016 Juncker Commission
9 Ansip EC Portrait 2014.jpg Andrus Ansip Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia2017 Juncker Commission
10 Gabriel Marija 2014-02-06 3 (cropped).jpg Mariya Gabriel Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria2017–2019 Juncker Commission
11 (Margrethe Vestager) Hearings of Margrethe Vestager DK, vice president-designate for a Europe fit for the digital age (48865071413) (cropped).jpg Margrethe Vestager Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark2019–2024 Von der Leyen Commission I
12 1718869849735 20240619 VIRKKUNEN Henna FI 008.jpg Henna Virkkunen Flag of Finland.svg FinlandIncumbent Von der Leyen Commission II

See also

References

  1. President Juncker consults the European Parliament on Mariya Gabriel as Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society European Commission
  2. "European Commission". 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  3. Roaming Charges Portal European Commission
  4. European parliament backs roaming price cuts Archived 28 September 2007 at archive.today Computer Business Review Online
  5. `.eu' Domain Names Top 2.5M in Year One HuffPost
  6. EU Commissioner favours telecoms break-up [ permanent dead link ] Financial Times