On Tuesday evening, the Industry and Internal market committees questioned Henna Virkkunen, Finnish candidate for the Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy portfolio.
In her introductory statement, Henna Virkkunen said she would work to strengthen the EU’s digital independence, make critical digital infrastructure more secure and increase competitiveness. She presented her plans to boost innovation and investment in frontier technologies, ensure security and a fair online space, close the digital skills gap, cut bureaucracy and increase investment in research.
Technological sovereignty and security
The Commissioner-designate committed to supporting investment and innovation in cyber-defence and to protect the EU’s critical infrastructure from hybrid attacks. Ms Virkkunen supported the idea of building a true defence union and stressed the importance of joint investments, with more details expected in an upcoming defence white paper. She said an action plan on cybersecurity will be presented soon and insisted that member states need to fully apply existing cybersecurity rules and do more to make critical infrastructure more secure.
Answering questions on increasing the EU’s tech independence, including on cloud services, Ms Virkkunen committed to attracting researchers to Europe, increasing private investment and upskilling experts. As a part of a broader strategy to meet the EU’s digital decade targets and ensure secure and fast connectivity, she said the digital networks act will help reduce bureaucracy and ensure high-speed connectivity for all, while the cloud and AI development act will help boost investment in cloud capacity for businesses. Other priorities she mentioned included boosting EU semiconductor production, the EU Space industrial strategy, and quantum computing.
Supporting the digital transformation
On artificial intelligence, Ms Virkkunen committed to swiftly implementing the AI Act. For Europe to become “the AI continent” that can attract the best talent, she will present an AI factories initiative in the first 100 days in office and prepare a cloud and AI development act to promote energy efficient computing solutions, increase capacity for businesses, and stimulate innovation. Boosting industrial uses of AI will be a priority, she said in response to questions on AI’s potential to improve services, like healthcare.
Several MEPs asked about the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), more specifically on the harmful effects of social media, protecting freedom of speech online and the sale of illegal products from third countries. Ms Virkkunen said protecting children online is one of her priorities and committed to presenting an action plan on cyberbullying as well as to look into systemic risks, such as addictive algorithms. She explained that the DSA is about removing illegal content and actually empowers users to defend their rights online. She highlighted the need to work with likeminded partners on digital policy, while stressing that digital rules apply to all companies that want to operate in the EU.
Ms Virkkunen also answered MEPs’ questions on freedom of speech and fundamental rights, highlighting the upcoming Democracy Shield initiative, the need to fight against foreign interference and disinformation, and the importance of a pluralistic media environment.
You can watch the video recording of the full hearing here. After the hearing, Ms Virkkunen held a press point outside the meeting room: you can watch it here.
Next steps
The chairs and political group coordinators of both committees will meet without delay to assess the performance and qualification of the Executive Vice-President-designate.
Based on the committee recommendations, the Conference of Presidents (EP President Metsola and political group chairs) is set to conduct the final evaluation and declare the hearings closed on 21 November. Once the Conference of Presidents declares all hearings closed, the evaluation letters will be published.
The election by MEPs of the full college of Commissioners (by a majority of the votes cast, by roll-call) is currently scheduled to take place during the 25-28 November plenary session in Strasbourg.