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We ’ve pick out three commissioner - designates to watch for technical school insurance moves as the next Commission necessitate up its five - year authorization , which runs into 2029 , with responsibilities across areas like digital infrastructure and tech investing , support for startups , and enforce the axis ’s natural law on Big Tech .
Teresa Ribera Rodríguez
Executive frailty president for Clean , Just and Competitive Transition
Big Tech will be watching Teresa Ribera Rodríguez nearly . Once confirmed in post , the Spanish plaza - leave politician is go down for a major EVP purpose in the incoming Commission heading up a climate brief - cum - economic shift EVP function . But she ’ll also be taking over competition enforcement from Margrethe Vestager — a portfolio that ’s given the likes ofApple , Amazon , Google , andMetaplenty of headaches over the years .
This combined strategical portfolio stimulate her the most brawny figure in the incoming Commission — on paper , at least .
The EU has put a fresh focus on attempt to rein in political platform power in late years , thanks to the bloc ’s flagshipDigital Markets Act(DMA ) , a popular rival reform that came into force this March . It responds to Big Tech ’s market - shaping muscle by implement a set of upfront rule on how they can maneuver key platform , doing thing like ostracize ego - preferencing and require openness and interoperability , which the EU desire will result in fair dealing for competitors and technical school users .
Von der Leyen haspreviously said enforcement of the digital regime is a priorityfor her second term as EU headman .
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As EU contest chief , Ribera Rodríguez is set to wield major decision - making world power in tech . She will inherit a clutch of fighting DMA investigations , include advanced probe ofAppleandMeta , where the EU has already said it distrust breaches but is n’t expected to decide the slip until next year . Google ’s self - preferencingis also under investigation . Other DMA probe could espouse on the seven destine gatekeepers , withReuters reporting that Amazon will face a probe next year .
Penalties under the DMA can reach up to 10 % of global yearly turnover or more for repeat offenders . But we ’ve already seen notable operational changes as tech giants have been forced to offer stuff they can frame as abidance , such asApple grant web distribution for iOS appsandMeta creep toward “ less personalise ” ads .
carry a fortune more service reconfiguring as enforcement steps up , though , and Ribera Rodríguez brings down the DMA power hammer .
She will also be in bursting charge of classical competition enforcement , which ( while typically dull to yield results ) has similarly beefy sanctions for violations — an area where the EU recentlyslapped Meta with a mulct of nearly $ 840 millionfor tying its on-line classified advert serving to its dominant social meshing , for example .
Again , the Commission has a figure of open cases that Ribera Rodríguez could terminate up being in charge of wrapping up , such as along - running probe of Google control of the adtech quite a little . The EUpreviously saidit may need to deliberate breaking Google up if its hunch of anticompetitive behavior are reassert . Such a significant call may ultimately rest on Ribera Rodríguez ’s sign - off .
Faster enforcement, fewer killer acquisitions, strategic state aid reforms
Speaking at herconfirmation hearing in the European Parliament , where Ribera Rodríguez was questioned by MEPs ( members of the European Parliament ) in the beginning this calendar month , she tell she ’s committed to turn on a reform of EU competition insurance to further speed up enforcement and wants to improve the Commission ’s ability to enforce the DMA .
The commissioner - designate also aver she will focalise enforcement on the worst offenders and drink to clamp down on acquisitions that forbid innovation ( i.e. , sea wolf acquisitions ) , suggesting Big Tech M&A will continue to face a bumpy ride in the EU with knock - on implications for startup exits ( and investors ) .
In her ownmission letterto Ribera Rodríguez , von der Leyen likewise named “ killer acquisitions ” and DMA enforcement as central challenger anteriority , so her confirmation hearing was on playscript here , instructing the take contest top dog to “ address the challenge and dynamics of digital markets , admit program economies and data point - drive stage business models , ” and urging “ rapid and in force ” DMA enforcement .
The EU president has also overtly line up goals for the fleeceable and competition briefs , saying the EU needs a new approach to competition insurance policy that train to nurture scale - ups that can aid the bloc decarbonize faster .
Additionally , von der Leyen write that geopolitical uncertainty must be factor in in and contender policy should “ excogitate the spring up importance of resiliency in the typeface of geopolitical and other threats to supply chains and of unfair contention through subsidies . ” She call for Ribera Rodríguez to superintend more simplification of EU State Aid rules to supportefforts to boost the bloc ’s competitivenessvia what it ’s calling “ authoritative Projects of Common European Interest ” ( or IPCEIs ) .
Here contender policy is being seen as a primal lever tumbler for supporting emerging technical school in strategic sectors , like microelectronics , barrage fire , and next - gen cloud substructure . So the job is tax with help to shape a higher tech , more autonomous future for the EU .
Since the mission missive was compose , Donald Trump has been confirmed as the next U.S. prexy , further amping up unpredictability and business deal risk for the EU . It will be interesting to see how the incoming competition chief use antitrust powers as a bolster against external instabilities without , for exemplar , being accused of act politically / being anti - America by a transactional Trump administration .
Henna Virkkunen
Executive vice President of the United States for Tech Sovereignty , Security and Democracy
As well as a tech - sharpen EVP portfolio , Henna Virkkunen is being handed responsibility for “ Digital and Frontier Technologies , ” meaning she ’s set to get a key role in determine the bloc ’s approach to web engineering and AI , and a lot more besides .
But as well as the legal brief putting a direction on foster investment to drive introduction and tech intake — requiring her aid on orbit like cybersecurity , digital skills , and infrastructure ( and ingestion of apps like theEU digital wallet ) — her responsibilities span enforcement of existing digital rules . It will be interesting to see where the giving - bourgeois politician brings her A - game .
In the case of AI , the EU adopted a risk - based framework for regulating artificial intelligence this summer ( i.e. ,the EU AI Act ) . Enforcement is due to part from early next year — with additional compliance deadline following in the months and long time ahead — but von der Leyen’smission letterputs much more vehemence on “ boosting stilted intelligence service invention ” than enforcing these freshly inked ruler . So , when it come to AI at least , it appears Virkkunen is being told to prioritise ecosystem growth .
Among first - order tasks she ’s instructed with are helping getEU supercomputers fit for AI startupsto use to string exemplar ; devising an “ Apply AI Strategy ” to boost new industrial America of AI and improve public service delivery ; and helping set up the European AI Research Council , which theCommission has saidwill “ overwork the voltage of information . ”
Other areas where the EU is keen to boost “ frontier ” technical school investment — and therefore where Virkkunen will be look to move the evolution needle — let in supercomputing , semiconductors , IoT , genomics , quantum computing , and place tech .
In a more denotative ecosystem - boosting standard , the EVP will be in charge of stick in an “ EU Cloud and AI Development Act . ” The axis want this to support SMEs by boosting computational electrical capacity as it will be paired with an EU - wide framework to support innovative inauguration in gather access to the compute to develop their technical school .
All of this plays into the “ tech sovereignty ” radical of the portfolio , which von der Leyen has linked to the overarching finish of driving the bloc ’s fight .
Digital Services Act enforcement, and what to do about X?
The structure of Virkkunen ’s portfolio means she will also take the lead on steering enforcement of the Digital Services Act ( DSA ) , the baby regularisation to the DMA . The DSA is an online governance framework that aims to see to it digital services do right by consumer by remove illegal content and not neglecting to enforce their own footing and condition , with an additional layer of algorithmic accountability rules for big technical school platforms .
The axis has a raft of open DSA probes that Virkkunen is likely to be seeing through to conclusion , include probe of marketplacesAliExpressandTemu , as well as societal media platformsFacebook and Instagram;TikTok ; andX(Twitter ) . Penalties for confirmed rupture can hit 6 % of global annual turnover .
So far the EU ’s probe of X is the most innovative , with somepreliminary determination announced this summer . But where the investigation at long last lands should involve Virkkunen , who is taking up an superintendence baton previously wielded by ex - internal food market commissioner Thierry Breton , who made himself very visible indeed versus most of the rest of the Commission via somepublic clashes with ex owner , Elon Musk .
When it comes to enforcing the bloc ’s digital rules , Virkkunen has named protecting children online as a priority . During herhearing with MEPs , she committed to represent an natural action plan on cyberbullying and said she would take care into “ systemic risks , ” such as habit-forming algorithms .
Tackling “ dark patterns ” is also a undertaking in her mission letter , with von der Leyen saying the EVP must work to combat “ unethical techniques online ” — include addictive design — and societal media influencer marketing . pay back issues with e - commerce is also on the lean . So it ’s a repeat ofexisting Commission DSA enforcement priorities .
Online disinformation is another exculpated arena of focus , which plays to the “ democracy ” element of Virkkunen ’s EVP title . And this always - tricky issue could create some of the biggest risks for the EVP .
Notably , an instruction from the EU president to “ bring to counter harmful disinformation ” is all but certain to bring the bloc into fresh into conflict with Musk , whose platform Xcontains hateful gimcrackery of all stripes . So how Virkkunen handles Musk ’s inevitable attacks will be essential showing , specially as the X owner now sits alongside President - chosen Trump , bending his auricle as a self - style “ first chum . ”
If the EU ’s rule of law clash with go hits a crisis level next year , it take care set to be Virkkunen making the call on whether to pull the plug on regional access to the platform , as the DSA contain powers for violate services to be temporarily obstruct in extremis .
Breton come out several public word of advice of the mightiness in a bid to rule in Musk . In the event , Breton himself is now out of power ( afterclashing with von der Leyen ) and the X owner ’s geopolitical influence has scaled exponentially .
The EU still has n’t work home the DSA probe of X it started almost a class ago , even as the bloc is now face four more old age of Musk - adjacent transatlantic convulsion . So Virkkunen is abuse into a complex ( some might say toxic ) brew in this particular caseful . Even as she ’s been instruct to deliver “ speedy and in effect ” DSA enforcement . “ Lykkyä tykö ! ” ( “ Good luck ! ” ) as the Finns say .
Ekaterina Zaharieva
Commissioner for Startups , Research and Innovation
Ekaterina Zaharieva is not an EVP , so hers is a much little portfolio , but as commissioner - designate for startup and R&D , she ’s likely to become a familiar face in European startup commonwealth , and among the wide inquiry residential area , over the next five years .
Among the tasks von der Leyen go under for Zaharieva in hermission letteris to work on a “ European Innovation Act , ” which is slated to streamline the bloc ’s regulatory theoretical account ; facilitate access to venture capital for “ European innovative inauguration and scaleups ” ; and provide support beat for test novel technologies , such as regulatory sandboxes .
A perennial complaint from industry is that the EU ’s dearest of rulemaking hampers homegrown inauguration versus unfettered global players , so von der Leyen ’s insurance programme is keen to sound combat-ready on ecosystem musical accompaniment measures .
For instance , Zaharieva has been ask to number up with an “ EU inauguration and scale - up strategy ” to help originate the local technical school ecosystem . In herconfirmation auditory modality , she talked about expanding access to funding and cut red tape . But , clearly , the devil will be in the details of how she get going about executing those intent .
She will also go on offer a “ European Research Area Act , ” which the EU hop will foster research and innovation by supporting the free movement of researchers , scientific knowledge , and technology .
Expanding the European Innovation Council ( EIC ) and European Research Council ( ERC ) are other stated missions . In the typesetter’s case of the EIC , Zaharieva has been specifically tax with helping to make a connection of trusted deep technical school investors to agitate for atomic number 27 - investment funds with the private sector to turn homegrown innovation . Elsewhere , she will be involved in get the aforementioned European AI Research Council up and track , which is part of the bloc ’s endeavour to defend outgrowth in the AI ecosystem .
During her hearing in fantan sooner this month , Zaharieva also pledged to campaign EU member states to meet a 3 % outgo target on inquiry and innovation , saying inquiry and conception must be at the heart of the axis ’s fight schedule .
