European Commissioner for Digital Agenda

The Commissioner for Digital Agenda (previously Commissioner for Information Society and Media) is a member of the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

. The current Commissioner is Neelie Kroes

Neelie Kroes

Neelie Kroes is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 3 August 1971 until 28 December 1977 when she became State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 28 December 1977 until 11...

Viviane Reding

Viviane Reding is a Luxembourgian politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. Before starting a professional career as a journalist for the leading newspaper in Luxembourg, the Luxemburger Wort, she obtained a doctorate in human sciences...

found a relatively popular policy in seeking to lower roaming

Roaming

In wireless telecommunications, roaming is a general term referring to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming ensures that the wireless device is kept connected to the network, without losing the...

charges of mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s when travelling within the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, stating: "For years, mobile roaming charges have remained unjustifiably high. We are therefore tackling one of the last borders within Europe's internal market". Her legislation to cap roaming charges was approved by the Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

in April 2007

On 7 April 2006 the Commission launched the new ".eu

.eu

.eu is the country code top-level domain for the European Union . Launched 7 December 2005, the domain is available for organisations in and residents of EU member states. The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium consisting of the national ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Sweden, Italy...

" TLD

Top-level domain

A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...

for websites for EU companies and citizens wishing to have a non-national European internet address. This has proved popular with 2.5M being registered by April 2007. It is now the seventh most popular TLD worldwide, and third in Europe (after .de

.de

.de is the country code top-level domain for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC does not require specific second-level domains, as it is the case with the .uk domain range which require .co.uk domain for example.The name is based on the first two letters of the German name for Germany...

and .uk

.uk

.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. , it is the fourth most popular top-level domain worldwide , with over 9.5 million registrations....

)

Reding has also proposed that major European telecom companies be forced to separate their network and service operations to promote competition in the market. The companies, including France Telecom

France Télécom

France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...

and Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....

, would still own their networks but the separate management structure would be obliged to treat other operators on an equal basis in offering access to the network. This is opposed to separate ideas to force a full break up of such companies.

List of commissioners

In the previous Commission information society was linked with Enterprise (now linked with Industry).

	Name	Country	Period	Commission
1	Karl-Heinz Narjes	Germany	1985–1992	Delors Commission Delors Commission The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the 8th President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the 8th President of the European Commission. Delors presided... I & II
2	Antonio Ruberti Antonio Ruberti Antonio Ruberti was an Italian politician and engineer. He was a member of the Italian Government and a European Commissioner as well as a Professor of engineering at La Sapienza University.-Biography:...	Italy	1992–1995	Delors Commission Delors Commission The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the 8th President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the 8th President of the European Commission. Delors presided... III
3	Martin Bangemann Martin Bangemann Martin Bangemann is a German politician and a former leader of the FDP . He studied Law in Tübingen and Munich, earned a Dr. jur. in 1962, and qualified as an attorney in 1964...	Germany	1995–1999	Santer Commission Santer Commission The Santer Commission was the European Commission in office between 23 January 1995 and 15 March 1999. The administration was led by Jacques Santer ....
4	Erkki Liikanen Erkki Liikanen Erkki Liikanen is a Finnish social democratic politician and the Governor of the Bank of Finland.-Career:...	Finland	1999–2004	Prodi Commission Prodi Commission The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.-History:...
5	Ján Figeľ Ján Figel Ján Figeľ is a Slovakian politician, previously European Commissioner for Education, Training & Culture. His area of responsibility also covered sport, youth, and relations with civil society.-Early career:...	Slovakia	2004	Prodi Commission Prodi Commission The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.-History:...
6	Viviane Reding Viviane Reding Viviane Reding is a Luxembourgian politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. Before starting a professional career as a journalist for the leading newspaper in Luxembourg, the Luxemburger Wort, she obtained a doctorate in human sciences...	Luxembourg	2004–2010	Barroso Commission Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners... I
7	Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 3 August 1971 until 28 December 1977 when she became State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 28 December 1977 until 11...	Netherlands	2010 onwards	Barroso Commission Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners... II

External links

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Viviane Reding

List of commissioners

See also

External links