Stéphanie Yon-Courtin
As the European Union prepares to unveil a major overhaul of its digital rules Tuesday, all eyes will be on the two officials who best embody the bloc's push against Big Tech: Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton.
The Danish politician and French former tech boss will stand together to showcase the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act — twin pieces of legislation at the heart of the European Commission's push for greater independence from foreign digital giants.
The von der Leyen Commission “is right to want to set up European rules that put digital services in the EU on an equal footing with Google or Alphabet, and Facebook,” said Günther Oettinger, a former German Commissioner who held the digital, budget and energy portfolios during his decade in Brussels.
But despite the show of unity, trouble is brewing.
Over the past year, as they laid the groundwork for the new rules, the Commission's two digital heavyweights repeatedly butted heads behind the scenes and disagreed publicly on major policy questions, according to EU officials, diplomats and business representatives with first-hand knowledge of the disputes.
There have been clashes over how best to promote Europe's national interests in the digital realm, squabbles over takeovers of tech firms, and public disagreements over the need to break up Silicon Valley giants, according to the officials and representatives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal Commission politics.
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“The DSA and DMA .... will not be remembered because of big announcements from one EU Commissioner or another,” said Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a French member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of its competition report. “They will be assessed on their quick enforcement... and long-term efficiency."
Retrouvez l'article complet : https://www.politico.eu/article/margrethe-vestager-thierry-breton-europe-big-tech-regulation-digital-services-markets-act/
