| Viviane Reding | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 February 2010 |
|
| President | José Manuel Barroso |
| Preceded by | Jacques Barrot (Justice, Freedom and Security) |
| European Commissioner for Information Society and Media | |
| In office 22 November 2004 – 9 February 2010 |
|
| President | José Manuel Barroso |
| Preceded by | Ján Figeľ Olli Rehn (Enterprise and Information Society) |
| Succeeded by | Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) |
| European Commissioner for Education and Culture | |
| In office 13 September 1999 – 21 November 2004 Serving with Dalia Grybauskaitė |
|
| President | Romano Prodi |
| Preceded by | Marcelino Oreja (Culture) |
| Succeeded by | Ján Figeľ (Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 April 1951 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg |
| Political party | Christian Social People's Party |
| Spouse(s) | Dimitri Zois[1] |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Profession | Journalist |
Viviane Reding (born 27 April 1951 in Esch-sur-Alzette) is a Luxembourg 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 at the Sorbonne. From 1986 to 1998, she was President of the Luxembourg Union of Journalists. On 27 November 2009, she was upgraded in the "Barroso II Commission" to Vice-President responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. She is affiliated with the European People's Party (EPP).[2][3]
She is divorced and has three children.
Contents |
Political career [link]
She started her political career in 1979, as a Member of the Luxembourg Parliament and held the following positions:
- President of social committee
- Member of the Office of the Chamber of Deputies
- Member of the Benelux Parliament
- Member of the North Atlantic Assembly (leader of Christian Democrat/Conservative group)
She then became leader of Luxembourg’s EPP delegation in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999 and she was a Member of the group's office.
Within the European Parliament, she has held positions as President of the Petitions Committee for about 3 years, and Vice-Chair of the Social Committee and the Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee for about 2 years each.
From 1981 to 1999, she was Communal conciliator of the city of Esch, in which she was President of the Cultural Affairs Committee from 1992 to 1999.
From 1988 to 1993, she was national president of the Christian-Social Women and from 1995 to 1999 and president of the Christian Social People's Party.
From 1999 to 2004, she was appointed Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth, Media and Sport and in 2004 she became Commissioner for Information Society and Media. In that position she regulated the prices of roaming within the EU.
She has earned the following prizes and distinctions:
- 1992 St George’s Cross from the Generalitat of Catalunya
- 2001 Gold Medal of the European Merit Foundation
- 2004 Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Fu Jen Catholic University of Taiwan
- 2004 Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Genoa
- 2004 Robert Schuman Medal
- 2004 Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Turin
- 2005 Gloria Artis Medal of Honour from Poland
- 2005 Officer of the National Order French Legion of Honour
- 2007 Internet villain award at the UK Internet Service Providers Association Awards
- 2007 Deutscher Mittelstandspreis
- 2009 Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Sacred Heart University, Luxembourg
- 2010 BeNeLux Europa award
Commissioner [link]
While serving in the European Commission under President Barroso, Viviane Reding found a relatively popular policy in lowering roaming charges of mobile phones when travelling within the European Union, stating: "For years, mobile roaming charges have remained unjustifiably high. We are therefore tackling one the last borders within Europe's internal market".[4] Her legislation to cap roaming charges was approved by the Parliament in April 2007.[5]
On 7 April 2006 the Commission launched the new ".eu" TLD for websites for EU companies and citizens wishing to have a non-national European internet address. This has proven popular with 2.5 million being registered by April 2007. It is now the seventh most popular TLD worldwide, and third in Europe (after .de and .uk).[6]
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 and Deutsche Telekom, 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.[7]
In 2008, the EU Parliament voted to pass the "Telecoms Package" which would render the entire market a region into one market, making it easier to sell internet and phone services in EU, with the goal of making the telecom prices cheaper for customers in EU. Among the many amendments to the proposal, amendment 138 was voted in favor with 574 votes for, and 73 against. This particular amendment requires any termination of internet subscription to be heard in front of a judge. Viviane Reding said afterward that she hoped she could force the removal of the amendment. This prompted some observers to point out that she wanted to overrule the democratic process of the 647 cast votes, and this reinforced negative perceptions of her attitude towards the internet and democracy which had earned her the 2007 Internet Villain Award from the UK Internet Service Providers Association.[8]
On 9 February 2010, Reding was confirmed in her third term as European Commissioner as Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.[9]
On 7 July 2010, Reding had an official meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, in order to launch joint talks on the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.[10] On that occasion, she was assaulted by a man with mental health problems in front of the Palace of Europe.[11]
On 11 July 2011, Reding expressed criticism of the power exercised by the three major US credit rating agencies stating that breaking up the big three was an option being considered.[12]
Controversy over Roma [link]
After the leak of a French Interior Ministry circular of 5 August 2010, Reding made a public statement that was interpreted as likening the 2010 French deportations of the Roma to those made from France by the occupying German forces during World War II: "I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority. This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War".[13]
For a while, the French government's claim that it was expelling people on legal rather than ethnic grounds was claimed to be "openly contradicted by an administrative circular issue by the same government" mentioning the illegal Romani camps specifically ("en priorité ceux des Roms").[14] This mention could be explained by the fact that Roma account for the overwhelming majority of foreign migrants setting up camps in France, and that "most Roma from the two countries [Bulgaria and Romania] are thought to be in France illegally".[15] French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that his government had been unaware of the directive in question signed by Mr Michel Bart, the Chief of Staff of the French Minister of the Interior,[16] and that the directive had been canceled as soon as the government became aware of it through press reports. He stated that France continues to welcome refugees and that "we refuse the creation of slums... that are unworthy of French Republic or European ideals." President Sarkozy also stated that 80% of people removed from the camps during August 2010 were of French "gens du voyage", i.e. most of the campers thus removed where not foreign citizens or Roma; and that all removals were done based on judicial decisions, i.e. they were not unilateral police operations as would be based on a circular directive.[17]
The French government further stated that Reding had made an "unseemly blunder" and defended France as "the mother of human rights." Mr. Sarkozy denounced Mrs. Reding's comments as "scandalous" and stated that "if Luxembourg wants to take in Roma, that is no problem" as far as France is concerned.[18] This statement was based on Luxembourg's own rejection of migrants, yet Luxembourg's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn, deemed it "malevolent".[19] President Sarkozy pointed out that Mrs Reding had been silent during larger-scale expulsions by other countries in earlier years, including by Italy specifically of its Roma during 2009 and when police reject Romani travelers trying to enter Luxembourg. French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said that in her statement Reding "intentionally skids, if I may say, that is she uses an expression aimed to shock, that contains an anachronistic fallacy, and that creates a false amalgam".[18]
While some media coverage and opinion leaders supported her actions, others called for her immediate resignation.[20][21]
Following her initial statement, and intense discussions in the European Council and in the European Parliament, Mrs Reding announced that the European Commission intended to sue France at the European Court of Justice within two weeks. At the instigation of Mrs Reding, the European Commission later set up a Roma task force to analyse to what extent measures were being effectively taken to help the social and economic integration of Roma in Europe.[22] Mrs Reding subsequently privately recanted the historical comparison in her initial statement.[23] Her office apologized for the analogy.[24] The European Commission subsequently declined to follow up on the earlier threat to sue France at the European Court of Justice, or to take other legal action on the Roma matter against France.[25]
Subsequently, the EU said it would seek to compel European Union countries to amend their national rules to the requirements of the European Union's free movement laws, but in so doing did not deny the lawfulness of the French actions.[26] Zoni Weisz, a Roma activist and Holocaust deportation escapee who addressed the German Bundestag's Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on 27 January 2011, praised Mrs Reding's 'clear words' in denouncing Roma expulsions.[27] Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka, the sole European Parliament member to have partly Roma heritage, described the root problem as "the failure of Roma integration in most member states in the last 20 years".[28] Journalist and author Eric Zemmour commented that in this matter, "it is the European Union that is disarmed in the face of migration movements in general... European police are like Gullivers hindered in dealing with [potential criminal] migration".[29]
Notes [link]
- ^ "Corrections and clarifications". The Guardian (London). 23 September 1999. https://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/sep/23/correctionsandclarifications.
- ^ "Barroso gets new EU Commission team", BBC News, 25 November 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- ^ "Barroso II: 13 EPP Commissioners receive key portfolios", European People's Party, 27 November 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- ^ Roaming Charges Portal European Commission.
- ^ European parliament backs roaming price cuts Computer Business Review Online.
- ^ .eu Domain Names Top 2.5M in Year One Huffington Post.
- ^ EU Commissioner favours /elecoms break-up Financial Times.
- ^ EU Parliament: Only judges can order 'Net disconnections.
- ^ European Commission 2010–2014 confirmed.
- ^ European Commission and Council of Europe kick off joint talks on EU's accession to the Convention on Human Rights, hrea.org.
- ^ Viviane Reding agressée, Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (French).
- ^ "EU criticizes role of US credit rating agencies". Deutsche Welle. 11 July 2011. https://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15225330,00.html. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- ^ "EU threatens France with legal action over Roma 'disgrace' – EUbusiness – European Union business news search and analysis". Eubusiness.com. 14 September 2010. https://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/france-immigration.642. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
- ^ See original circular pdf at: https://ovh.softdom.com/Circulaire_du_5août_2010.pdf
- ^ "BBC News – Q&A: France Roma expulsions". Bbc.co.uk. 14 September 2010. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11027288. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
- ^ "Michel Bart – Directeur du Cabinet du Ministre de l'intérieur". https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/le_ministre/cabinet.
- ^ lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro – Politique : Roms : à Bruxelles, Sarkozy maintient son cap". Le Figaro. France. https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/09/16/01002-20100916ARTFIG00611-roms-a-bruxelles-sarkozy-maintient-son-cap.php. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
- ^ a b lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro – International : Roms : l'Élysée fustige les critiques de Bruxelles". Le Figaro. France. https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2010/09/15/01003-20100915ARTFIG00429-roms-l-elysee-fustige-les-critiques-de-bruxelles.php. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
- ^ "Sarkozy suggests Roma 'should be sent to Luxembourg'". /elegraph.co.uk. 16 September 2010. https://www./elegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/luxembourg/8005614/Sarkozy-suggests-Roma-should-be-sent-to-Luxembourg.html. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- ^ publico.pt. "Holocaust survivor denounces Roma expulsions". https://www.publico.pt/Mundo/primeiro-cigano-a-participar-em-aniversario-de-auschwitz-denuncia-condicoes-indignas_1477332. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ Moore, Michael Scott (15 September 2010). "France Has Acted Systematically against an Entire People". Spiegel Online International. https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,717643,00.html. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
- ^ "Roma Task Force". https://www.morespect.eu/en2/2010/09/a-roma-task-force-to-monitorate-members-state-use-of-eu-funds/.
- ^ lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro – International : Viviane Reding, la dame en rouge qui défie la France". Le Figaro. France. https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2010/09/15/01003-20100915ARTFIG00701-viviane-reding-la-dame-en-rouge-qui-defie-la-france.php. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
- ^ Castle, Stephen; Bennhold, Katrin (16 September 2010). "Dispute Grows Over France’s Removal of Roma Camps". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/europe/17union.html.
- ^ lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro - International : Roms : aucun procédure ne sera lancée contre Paris". Le Figaro. France. https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2010/10/19/01003-20101019ARTFIG00308-roms-aucune-procedure-ne-sera-lancee-contre-paris.php. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
- ^ "EU General Activity Report 2010". https://europa.eu/generalreport/pdf/rg2010_en.pdf.
- ^ publico.pt. "Holocaust survivor denounces Roma expulsions". https://www.publico.pt/Mundo/primeiro-cigano-a-participar-em-aniversario-de-auschwitz-denuncia-condicoes-indignas_1477332. Retrieved 18 June 2011. https://info.france2.fr/europe/allemagne-le-souvenir-de-l-holocauste-oublie-67133756.html. "Holocaust survivor denounces Roma expulsions".
- ^ https://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/committees/view.do?language=EN&id=28141 Lívia Járóka
- ^ Zemmour, Eric (September 2010). "Europe: le va-et-vient des Roms". Le spectacle du monde. https://www.lespectacledumonde.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=343:zemmour570&catid=31:chronique&Itemid=53. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
External links [link]
- Official Media Gallery
- Official website
- Archived website as Commissioner for Culture and Education
- Interview with Viviane Reding
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jacques Santer |
Luxembourgian European Commissioner 1999–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Marcelino Oreja as European Commissioner for Culture |
European Commissioner for Education and Culture 1999–2004 Served alongside: Dalia Grybauskaitė |
Succeeded by Ján Figeľ as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism |
| Preceded by Ján Figeľ Olli Rehn as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society |
European Commissioner for Information Society and Media 2004–2010 |
Succeeded by Neelie Kroes as European Commissioner for Digital Agenda |
| Preceded by Jacques Barrot as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security |
European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship 2010–present |
Incumbent |
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