I meet some of Europe's most energetic & thoughtful entrepreneurs...
Yesterday, I had my second meeting with some “Young Advisers” – a group of young Europeans on the front line of the Digital Agenda – from commerce to education and science. The digital revolution – with the right support – will lift Europe out of this crisis. And connecting with this kind of real-life experience is essential if the Digital Agenda is to succeed.
What a lot of energy and focus in one room! They certainly weren’t shy in coming forward and telling me not just what we did well, but what we can do better – exactly what I was hoping for.
So what did I learn? Well, it’s clear that for the younger generation the crisis is changing the jobs landscape – it’s now a place where comfortable public sector jobs are no longer an easy option; online opportunities are offering a real and attractive alternative. But we – the EU and Member State governments – need to make it easier. Read the full entry
Tomorrow, Tuesday 7 February, in 70 countries and 6 continents, it’s Safer Internet Day 2012. Across Europe, events are happening from quizzes and competitions to radio marathons.
I want everyone getting involved – generations connecting, parents talking to children and children to their parents (and grandparents!). So people aren’t afraid to ask each other openly, “how was your online day today”?
I know that, by making the most of everyone’s technical know-how and life experience, and by ensuring a few easy-to-use tools, we can make sure everyone has a safe and fun time online, from the young to the less-young of us.
For more info about what’s going on, see a full list here or check out the Twitter tag #SID2012. But whatever you’re doing for Safer Internet Day, I wish a safe & fun online experience for you, your kids and your parents, today and in the future!
Last weekend, I attended the Munich Security Conference. A cold couple of days – but a great opportunity to meet many interesting and influential figures in the field of defence, security and foreign affairs. I was there to highlight the increasing importance of Internet security. Internet attacks are ever more a threat to our well-being, being used as a new instrument for political and economic disruption; espionage; and potentially outright attacks instigated by terrorist groups or foreign governments. Meanwhile, some say cyber crime accounts for over $1 trillion—more than the global drugs trade.
Several speakers mentioned the relevance of the prolonged economic downturn: that in such an economic climate, Internet hackers risk becoming increasingly like terrorists, like what happened with the “red brigades” of the 1970s crisis. I sincerely hope this does not happen. But nonetheless we cannot ignore the problem ofinternet security: it is too important an issue to overlook, but too many still do. So later this year I’m planning an ambitious strategy for Europe to make sure that governments and the private sector wake up to the importance of acting in this area.
At the same time, we need to be careful and to protect freedom of speech and privacy. The Internet should not left to the military or to inter-state treaties—as though it were just another arena in which to exercise national power. The Internet has a very special nature, providing us all with an opportunity to connect and express ourselves: our priority should be to preserve this special character. So security should be combined with freedom: an important challenge in places where democratic voices still struggle to be heard. There was a lot of food for thought for me in that conference and I will continue to consult before coming up with proposals in the autumn.
Another thought. Syria was mentioned a lot in Munich, with an powerful and moving intervention by Nobel peace price laureate Tawakkol Karman. It was truly a great inspiration to meet someone fighting so hard for human rights and freedom of expression in a country like Yemen, where those rights are so valuable. The consensus at the conference was that it was a real shame that the UN Security Council, gathering in New York on 4 February, had been unable to adopt a resolution on Syria: the killing has to stop. But we should pay tribute to the many women and men who continue to struggle for freedom, by going out in the streets of Syria, risking their lives so that their children may come to know a freer life. I hope we can help them keep hope in the future and it made me ever more determined to find a way to protect and support such Internet activists.
A big thank you to all who took part in the Tweetchat on Monday – 1000+ questions, covering subjects from the cloud to online privacy, from ACTA to VAT on ebooks (via a certain tweet that drew a lot of attention on my choice of perfume).
To those of you who didn’t get a question answered – I apologise, I can only type so fast! But be assured that I and my team do read all your comments and questions.
And for those of you who missed it, you can find every question and answer posed here in HTML, in ODS and in Excel – including links and cross references so you can see which answer goes with which question. Open data experts – feel free to play with the data and let me know the results!
Last week I was in Davos at the World Economic Forum. A chance to speak with many interesting people and gain a lot of real insight about trends in the wider world.
But a principal reason for being there was to announce an exciting new initiative on cloud computing – the European Cloud Partnership. An important step forward to making the EU not just cloud friendly, but cloud-active. Here’s my announcement in detail:
On Wednesday I promised to keep you updated on my meeting today in Davos with Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.
As I expected, it was a very fruitful meeting. We discussed the developments regarding media freedom in Hungary after last years’ intervention by the European Commission , the critical report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Hammarberg and the ruling by the Constitutional Court last December.
We agreed that Hungary needs to act quickly to reassure all those who have concerns, to show that it is serious about protecting freedom of expression and media pluralism.
Mr. Jagland confirmed to me that the Council of Europe is ready to play its role and to prepare a comprehensive opinion on the media legislation and its application in practice – if or when Hungary would request such an assessment.
But of course that would just be a first step. The most important thing would be that the authorities would commit to accept and implement any concrete recommendations that would be made by the Council of Europe, which has been setting standards for fundamental rights protection in Europe for over half a century!
Today, also while in Davos, I met Myanmar Industry Minister Soe Thein, one of those supporting the current reform agenda. He heads Myanmar’s investment commission and is a key political actor shaping economic reform and liberalisation.
There is currently very encouraging progress in political, economic and social reforms in Myanmar, changes which will help developing relations with the EU. We welcome the release of political prisoners. But of course, we have other important expectations – like free and fair elections on 1 April, the release of remaining political prisoners, and conciliation with the various ethnic groups. Read the full entry
While at the World Economic Forum in Davos this morning, I had an important discussion with Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook; we talked about protecting children, and new data protection rules.
One of my priorities under the Digital Agenda is to ensure that children use new technologies in the safest way possible to learn, play, communicate and be creative. Facebook is already one of the parties to the EU’s Safer Social Networking Principles. But keeping children safe online is a shared responsibility, for all sectoral players, wherever they lie along the value chain – they all have a role to play, depending on how their devices or services engage with children as users. Read the full entry
I’m really positive about how the Internet helps – not just one-way communication – but genuine interaction. So I am happy to announce that I will have another tweetchat on Monday 30 January, 3pm to 3.30pm (Brussels time). Anyone can join in. This is an opportunity for you to send in comments or questions on my recent announcement on cloud computing, on privacy online, and on the Commission’s recent proposal to revise data protection rules across Europe (on which my blog is here).
This is why I would like to get your questions and comments on these issues – and of course others. Just send me a tweet from any time now – using the #askneelie hashtag – and I’ll do my best to respond on Monday. I look forward to a great live-chat with all of you!
Vaire Vika Freiberga, photo under CC license by Aivis Freidenfelds
I am on my way to the World Economic Forum in Davos where I will present my plans for setting up the European Cloud Partnership – but more on that in the coming days.
I first wanted to share the latest news with you regarding the situation of media freedom and pluralism in Hungary. Yesterday I met with the CEO of Klubradio, a radio station in Hungary with a lot of often quite critical political commentary. He told me that they have lost 8 local frequencies in 2011 alone (as and when their previous rights expired, and that a new frequency assignment to Klubradio last year for the key Budapest region had been retracted by the incoming Media Council) – isn’t that worrying? It seems that high music content has been given priority over political commentary and discussion in the latest tender for Budapest. EU Member States have a wide discretion in setting the conditions for open tenders for radio frequency, so this trend has to be carefully examined. However, I have written to the Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary last week to ask for clarifications on the overall situation.
Today, the independent high-level group on freedom and pluralism of the media – that I had set up in October last year – met for the second time. You might recall that I had asked the group to draw up a report for the Commission with recommendations for the respect, protection, support and promotion of pluralism and freedom of the media in Europe by the end of this year. They discussed the situation in Hungary (as well as other Member States – such as Italy and France) and were given a presentation by an expert on the Assessment of the Consistency of Hungary’s Media Laws with European Practices and Norms. For instance, the study notes that the Hungarian media authority has a concentration of powers unique across Europe. I can highly recommend that study if you want to learn more on this issue.
In the press conference after the meeting, the chair of the group, Prof. Vaira Vike-Freiberga (former President of Latvia) stated that Hungary had put itself in a position of potential danger to media freedom and the Government would be wise to consider how to get out of it. You can listen to the parts of the press conferencehere and here.
Lastly, on Friday, I will sit on a panel in a discussion titled “Leadership in the Information Age” in Davos with Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe (the body responsible for the European Convention on Human Rights which has helped protect us since 1953.) He and his colleague Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, are quite crucial in protecting the media freedom in Hungary and across Europe – therefore I am very keen to discuss current risks and challenges to media freedom with him and how we can further improve our cooperation in the future. I will keep you updated.
