Blog: Visit to the U.S. - Hoofdinhoud

I am just leaving for my first official trip to the United States of America as EU Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, with a very packed agenda.

My first stop is San Francisco and around the Silicon Valley, where I will have talks with digital movers such as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and meet European entrepreneurs active in California at the Startup Europe Comes To Silicon Valley conference. Next I move to Washington, DC, to continue and strengthen my engagement with U.S. regulators and policy-makers including Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce; and Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.

I am eager to meet these and other people who share my belief in the transformative potential of digital technologies. My goals are simple: I want to better understand the priorities of our most important economic partner and explain what Europe is doing with the Digital Single Market strategy.

I know that many in the U.S. are worried that our aim with the Digital Single Market is to benefit only European companies. I will be listening very attentively to these concerns, and will discuss with an open mind. But my position, and that of the European Commission, is very clear: the DSM is about adapting the European economy to the Digital age; Europeanising our digital policies. Europe is not targeting companies from any specific part of the world. We want to achieve a level-playing field, where all market players - from the EU or elsewhere - must respect the same rules throughout Europe.

This is particularly true for Internet platforms, which can have many beneficial effects on the economy. I have never been shy to point out that the European economy needs to adapt to the new realities that the Internet and digital technologies have brought us. There are questions that need to be answered, on the power of these platforms, the way they manage the enormous troves of data they collect, and the potential harmful effects on competition and innovation that dominant players can have.

Europe has a chance, and I believe a duty, to lead the debate on how the digital sector should be regulated in order to foster innovation while preserving competitiveness across the board. I have my opinions on these matters, but I don't claim to have all the answers. The European Commission will very soon launch a public consultation which will mark the beginning of our comprehensive assessment of the role of Internet platforms. My conversations in the U.S. are part and parcel of this assessment.

I will be very clear with all my interlocutors: no political decision on this matter has been taken yet. Europe is ready to listen to the concerns and suggestions of the U.S. But we will not be lectured or pressured to back off from asking tough questions, nor impressed by cheap claims of “over-regulation”.

Standards - the internationally agreed technical definitions at the very foundation of interoperable digital technologies - are another hot topic for this trip. I will discuss this at a round table, jointly organised in Washington with the US Department of Commerce. In the coming days, I will launch a public consultation to identify the key technology areas - such as 5G, cybersecurity, Intelligent Transport Systems and Smart Cities - where we need to agree standards as priority to achieve the Digital Single Market and further the digital revolution. Please do give us your views.

Europe has a lot to learn from the U.S., especially when it comes to the successes of Silicon Valley, where many European startups are finding the investments and ability to scale that Europe's fragmented digital market too often fails to provide. And many of these successful European companies maintain close ties back home, in what can truly be defined a continuous “brain circulation”.

At our Startup Europe Comes To Silicon Valley event I look forward to meeting EU startups that have already "made it" in Silicon Valley and investors from both sides of the Atlantic to see what the European Commission can do to better support this innovative sector. It's also a great opportunity to showcase in Silicon Valley, Europe's increasingly dynamic European startup ecosystem.

I will be listening to both the established European community in the Bay Area, as well as to the “new kids on the block”, to understand what works and what doesn't, and how we can use these existing transatlantic ties to support growth and jobs in Europe.