The new Commission’s motto is “A Union that strives for more”. It sounds a little bit ambiguous. It strives for more…what? More of the same?
As of December 1st, the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen (the vdLCommission), has taken office. I’m hoping the new Commission’s motto means more forward-looking, more innovation, and greater support for entrepreneurship and economic growth!
After the approval vote in the European Parliament on November 27th, Ursula von der Leyen presented her College of Commissioners and their priorities. I listened carefully to her speech in order to understand the vision of the vdLCommision. What variables and challenges the commission might introduce to the developer community.
This could be seen as the source code for the new EU political cycle.
By and large, the speech was deceptive. I’m worried about the lack of a future-proof vision for the EU. Of course, I hope that in 5 years the results of the proposed strategy will prove me wrong. I’ll certainly be doing my part to make it so.
We are embarking on a transformation ”which will touch every part of our society and of our economy,” we’re told. The new Commission wants the EU to be a global standard setter, imposing the “European way” at a global level. Of course, the EU has ambitions to win the global economic competitive race, but what exactly is its strategy, especially as it relates to technological development? Listening to Ms. von der Leyen, I was not convinced that the EU has a plan to succeed in the AI era.
“Europe can do it!”
Too often this translates as “Yup, EU, you can be hesitant to step into the future and keep one foot in the past.”
The vdLCommission intends to promote automation based on the traditional industrial mindset and to limit the development of Artificial Intelligence in Europe. Referring to assistive technologies, Ms. von der Leyen highlights the benefits of automation, while being reluctant to support an empathic approach in developing these technologies.
A GDPR-ish approach in setting the framework for AI development in the EU is worrisome, even if the speech is trying to assure that “it is not about damming up the flow of data”. We don’t yet have a comprehensive assessment one year after the implementation of GDPR and the vdLCommission is ready to proudly extend this model to regulate future technology solutions. Frans Timmermans, who was in charge of and actively promoted the Better Regulation Agenda during the previous Commission, will be busy with delivering the “Green Deal”, so who will champion this beneficial approach going forward?.
I noticed that the word “entrepreneurship” is absent in the speech, as well. Entrepreneurs are mentioned twice, but only as part of a general enumeration, and startups only once. The speech’s messages related to the economy and industrial strategy only showcased an EU mindset left by the last industrial revolution. I’m curious to hear an economist’s opinions on this. The ambitious goal to invest more in research is pertinent, but there’s no clear indication that its implementation will follow a different modus operandi than the previous research programmes. What makes us think the results will be any different? Now is the time to invest in challenges like the fight against climate change, where technology can provide solutions to difficult problems.
The single market is mentioned twice, giving the impression that it’s completed, while the reality shows that it’s far from that. No clear commitment to further tackle the fragmentation of the Single Market. One plus: completing the Capital Markets Union, that could help European start-ups to scale. It’s not enough, however. The impact of the spectrum of regulation and red tape from local to the EU level is troublesome. There’s no sign of any political will to rid Europe of it.
One of the two enumerations where the word entrepreneur appears in von der Leyen’s speech is referring to her Commissioners team. Thierry Breton, the former CEO of Atos, a French multinational IT service company, is in charge of a huge portfolio, covering all internal market aspects, from the digital economy to traditional industrial sectors and to space and defence. One might say that he’s the right man to do it, coming from the industry, but there are still big question marks about the potential conflict of interests. Next year he’ll put on the negotiation table, amongst others, the “Digital Services Act” and the “EU Data Strategy”. Needless to say that these are of particular concern for the developer community.
Some of his previous statements show his attachment to the idea of “European champions”, copycats of American successes, which could be created by targeted policy measures including loosening up competition rules. This is in line with calls from traditional industry for an “industrial policy for digital leadership”. A call for less (foreign) competition. The better answer, of course, is supporting a real entrepreneurial economy, where innovation is the key to market success, for the benefit of consumers.
If all this sounds like luke-warm support of the new commission’s strategy, it’s probably colored by commissions of the past. Take Margrethe Vestager’s mission “to lead us on this journey to the future”, as the Vice-President in charge with a “Europe fit for the digital age” and continuing her role as Commissioner for Competition policy, for instance. I can’t ignore the previous Commission, where a focus on certain big US companies and decisions that overlooked the negative impact on a functioning ecosystem hurt the developer community the EU needs to rely on.
Populist speeches are always mentioning the notion of “fairness”, when most measures are really focusing on the interests of the less innovative digital market losers, to the detriment of other players and of consumers. What we need is for European consumers to benefit from the progress of digital technologies, which is underpinned by genuine innovative ideas, hard work and global collaboration of the EU developer community.
Despite their words, the Commission seems to be pursuing a protectionist, rent-seeking approach, full of flaws, which definitely cannot foster entrepreneurship and innovation in the EU. Due to this, the EU risks losing (unfortunately), momentum, at the dawn of the Artificial Intelligence era.
Coming back to von der Leyen’s speech, a personal reaction, as a concerned EU citizen: it seems that the EU wants to protect (control?) my digital identity! I spent my first 12 years under communism, so you can imagine my reluctance toward this line of thought…
On a final and more pragmatic note, it’s always the case that any new Commission’s legislative programme will be full of bugs. I’ll follow closely and inform you of each of them. As we know, bugs can have
subtle and ripple effects, so we stand ready to assist EU policymakers and to point out what could negatively affect developers’ businesses.
The #vdLCommission is installed, so now let’s see how the program runs!
