Commissioner-designate Henna Virkkunen, responsible for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, appeared to make a good impression on her former colleagues during her hearing by the MEPs on Tuesday evening, 12 November.
This,despite an oral exercise that was a bit of a mishmash, due to the number of competencies in her portfolio. “It’s great to see a candidate who really knows about digital issues and the work Parliament does on these subjects”, said the MEP Arba Kokalari (EPP, Swedish) at the hearing.
The former Finnish MEP, who was on familiar ground, used the same broad lines to answer the oral questions as she did for her written questions: drastic cuts in European bureaucracy, investment in research and reducing the EU’s strategic dependencies.
While she was clear in most of her answers, she did not deal in depth with many of the contentious issues, offering MEPs an overall vision rather than a detailed legislative action agenda.
Henna Virkkunen also skilfully sidestepped a number of questions about how to manage relations between the United States and Europe, particularly in the area of digital technology and innovation, not to mention X, its content and its much-criticised owner.
“This is a crucial moment for the European Union”, she said by way of introduction. “Either external events shape us, or we are strong and develop ourselves. We need to ensure that the Union is resilient in every situation and work with countries that share our values”.
The importance of the DSA. The Commissioner-designate showed herself to be very attached to the Digital Services Act (DSA), arguing on several occasions that it is of fundamental importance in the European arsenal for regulating the major platforms, completely eclipsing its close relative, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Henna Virkkunen said that enforcing the DSA would be “one of the top priorities” and that she was committed to looking at the “other side” of social networks, tackling both harmful content and children’s time spent online (see EUROPE 13497/6).
Asked about e-commerce and her intention to take additional measures to control online platforms such as Temu and Shein, which are already in the Commission’s sights (see EUROPE 13516/9), the Commissioner-designate stressed the need for a “level playing field”.
“We have to take measures in many areas to cope with the influx of 10 million packages every day”, she said, without giving any further details on these measures.
Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Danish) asked the Commissioner-designate about the size of the team responsible for applying the DSA content moderation rules. These, currently comprising 100 persons, “should double by the end of next year”, promised Ms Virkkunen.
The sensitive case of US influence. In light of current events, several MEPs questioned the Commissioner-designate about Europe’s dependence on the United States, particularly in terms of security and innovation.
Asked by MEP Laura Ballarín Cereza (S&D, Spanish) about her willingness “to take on the next US administration in her fight to make online platforms safer”, Henna Virkkunen reiterated that the US was the EU’s “most important trading and security partner” and that EU rules applied to all platforms, even if they were based outside the Union.
However, the Finn sidestepped the issue of Platform X’s violations and the formal proceedings initiated against it (see EUROPE 13452/4).
The DSA must “strike a balance” between the moderation of potentially dangerous content and fundamental respect for freedom of expression, she said.
Hungarian MEP András László (Patriots for Europe) returned to this subject at the end of the hearing, pointing out that European citizens were “dependent” on a multitude of non-European services for virtually everything: “e-mail, online shopping, online services, social networks, etc.”, which was a far cry from European sovereignty.
Remove unnecessary obstacles. The need to cut red tape has been reaffirmed many times by the Commissioner-designate. “We need to remove overlaps, make compliance simpler, use AI and digitalisation”, she said.
In response to Svenja Hahn (Renew Europe, German), who criticised her lack of precision, she mentioned the “European Digital Identity” for companies, to facilitate administrative work in Europe.
On the sensitive issue of telecommunications and its overhaul, the revision of European legislation will be carried out in order to “reduce bureaucracy and administrative procedures” and to ensure that Europe is “an attractive place for investment”, particularly in view of the 6G, declared Henna Virkkunen.
Increase investments. Many of the responses from the Commissioner-designate focused on the need for the EU to boost investment and stimulate innovation, as advocated by the ‘Draghi’ and ‘Letta’ reports.
The Finn, like many before her in recent months, highlighted Europe’s heavy technological dependence on other countries, such as the United States and China, particularly for key technologies such as cloud services and microchips: “80% of our technology comes from outside the EU”, she said.
However, she dodged a question on the EU Cloud Certification Scheme (EUCS), which has been in limbo in European negotiations for many months (see EUROPE 13451/10).
She also mentioned the capital markets union, which is “essential” to relaunching European innovation, and the need for an appropriate “regulatory framework” for investment.
Asked about quantum computing, she called for a coordinated approach in Europe, with a view to putting in place a ‘Quantum Plan’, possibly followed by a ‘Quantum Act’, where major investments will be needed.
Europe as an AI continent. The Finnish Commissioner-designate said that the EU’s AI rules, in particular the ‘Artificial Intelligence Act’, must be “implemented quickly to make things easier”. The ‘EU Cloud and AI Development Act’ should help small businesses to secure access to advanced AI services and thus improve European competitiveness, said Ms Virkkunen.
In her view, we need to “start from scratch” in many areas, “avoid friction between Member States and invest on a massive scale”. She mentioned a number of sectors, in addition to AI, where Europe is “lagging behind”: cloud services, semi-conductors, skilled labour, etc.
Her approval by Parliament has been postponed, as have those of the other vice-presidents heard on Tuesday (see other news), to give the political groups time to reach agreement. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)