The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament welcomes the launch of the Digital Single Market Act and Digital Markets Act by Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager and EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Renew Europe has long called for action to put in place a proportionate, resolute regulatory regime which provides certainty and stability for businesses operating within the EU, while enhancing the rights and protections of EU consumers. These packages will be an opportunity for European businesses and drive innovation.
Internet platforms themselves have called for regulation to ensure certainty; we are committed to working as a political family to deliver this. While the US pursues its own approach and China has put digital technology at the service of an authoritarian political project, we believe its urgent for the EU to define its own digital model - one that ensures fair competition and rebalances the relationship between platforms and citizens, whilst ensuring our democracies and citizens are better protected from disinformation, illegal content and hate speech.
The European Parliament will now scrutinise the proposal put forward by the European Commission. Renew Europe MEPs will constructively work to make sure that this landmark piece of legislation will address the common challenges we face as Europeans.
Dacian Cioloş, President of Renew Europe said:
‘I strongly welcome the proposals today by the European Commission and Renew Europe is committed to engaging with these proposals positively. We need to take the EU’s digital future into our own hands and this package is an important step to achieving this. No to the China model, No to the US model, yes to a European model!’
With GDPR, the EU has set a new worldwide standard with its privacy legislation and it is time to do this again for digital services and platforms and restore the balance between the marketplace and its consumers.’
ENDS