European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society

The Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society (previously for Digital Agenda) is a member of the European Commission responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT. Andrus Ansip has held the office on an interim basis since January 1, 2017. Mariya Gabriel is currently undergoing the confirmation process to take over.[1].

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".[2] Her legislation to cap roaming charges was approved by the Parliament in April 2007.[3] Reding's successor Neelie Kroes greatly extended the range of the roaming regulation, to include data charges amongst 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)[4]

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 breakup of such companies.[5]

List of commissioners

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

Name Country Period Commission
1 Karl-Heinz Narjes  West Germany 1985–1992 Delors Commission I & II
2 Antonio Ruberti  Italy 1992–1995 Delors Commission III
3 Martin Bangemann  Germany 1995–1999 Santer Commission
4 Erkki Liikanen  Finland 1999–2004 Prodi Commission
5 Ján Figeľ  Slovakia 2004 Prodi Commission
6 Viviane Reding  Luxembourg 2004–2010 Barroso Commission I
7 Neelie Kroes  Netherlands 2010–2014 Barroso Commission II
8 Günther Oettinger  Germany 2014–2016 Juncker Commission
9 Andrus Ansip  Estonia 2017 Juncker Commission
10 Mariya Gabriel  Bulgaria 2017– Juncker Commission

See also

References

  1. ↑ President Juncker consults the European Parliament on Mariya Gabriel as Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society European Commission
  2. ↑ Roaming Charges Portal European Commission
  3. ↑ European parliament backs roaming price cuts Computer Business Review Online
  4. ↑ `.eu' Domain Names Top 2.5M in Year One Huffington Post
  5. ↑ EU Commissioner favours telecoms break-up Financial Times
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