DIGITALEUROPE: The appointment of Margrethe Vestager as Executive Vice President for "Europe fit for digital age" is a positive and strong political signal
DIGITALEUROPE, the voice of digitally transforming industries in Europe, welcomes the appointment of Margrethe Vestager as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for “Europe fit for digital age”.
We believe Mrs. Vestager can provide the necessary proactive leadership to bring Europe to the forefront of the emerging global digital era. To DIGITALEUROPE, this shows that the European Commission is giving to the digital transformation and “Europe fit for the digital age” top priority.
The appointment of Mrs. Vestager with a portfolio including digitalisation as well as competition is a positive sign that Europe wants to lead in setting the scene on innovation and tech regulation. We are fully ready to support this international leadership, said Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE.
We are also very delighted by the appointment of Sylvie Goulard as ‘Internal Market’ Commissioner. Throughout her career, Mrs. Goulard has demonstrated her will and ambition to build a stronger Europe. This dedication will be critical to achieve and promote the Digital Single Market, lead the Commission’s work on artificial intelligence and contribute to a long-term strategy for Europe’s industrial future.
Europe needs considerable investments in the next frontier of technologies as well as the right framework to make the most of the digital transformation if we want to leverage technological advancement. We Europeans need to think big, and we will be very pleased to collaborate with Sylvie Goulard on these matters, emphasised DIGITALEUROPE’s Director General.
DIGITALEUROPE stresses that Europe needs to build on its strengths and emphasises that private sector companies should play a key role in contributing to shaping digital policies.
We must find common solutions to foster the competitiveness of big European digital companies within Europe’s areas of strength such as manufacturing, green tech, health and public services. One does not go without the other, only with a share in tech leadership and innovation can Europe lead on tech ethics and rule of law. For this, we need to complete and secure an unfragmented digital single market and an open global trade environment.
We strongly value agile and inclusive policymaking involving institutions as well as the industry, trade unions, NGOs, governments from all member states, which is why for instance we see a great need to continue the work of the High Level Group for AI, an open and cross-functional collaboration defining a European way for governance of Ethical AI.”, added Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl.
DIGITALEUROPE believes in constructive collaboration between all stakeholders in order to break national silos and sustain European values and prosperity in a global digitalised economy. We wish Mrs. Vestager and Mrs. Goulard all the best and are looking forward to engaging with the new Executive Vice President and Commissioner in the future.
