What we can expect for community-governed knowledge-sharing projects.
The new European Commission, which is led for the second time by German Christian Democrat (EPP) Ursula von der Leyen, was elected on Wednesday, 27 November by the European Parliament with 370 favourable votes (with a total of 720 parliamentary members, the absolute majority amounts to 361), 282 votes against, and 36 abstensions. The European Council formally appointed the Commission by a qualified majority, and the new college officially started working on 1 December, 2024.
The agreement between political forces (EPP, S&D and Renew) was found after a troublesome Commissioners-designate hearing process. The Spanish EPP delegation was indeed opposing the appointment of the proposed Spanish Executive Vice-President responsible for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera (S&D), thus triggering a series of cross-vetoes among political groups on other different proposed Commissioners. In fact, the S&D group retaliated against the EPP and ECR on the appointment of Raffaele Fitto – the Italian Executive Vice-President responsible for Cohesion and Reforms.
In the end, the majority found a common ground to support the new European executive by signing a political pact. The agreement was reached despite the fact that, just a few days before the vote, the EPP showed its possible double-game by voting on the so-called deforestation law together with the ECR, the PfE group, and the ESN—often referred to as the “Venezuelan majority.”
Some political considerations on the new European Commission
This is the first time that a Commission has received such a low majority. It received 31 votes less than those received by President von der Leyen for her election in July 2024—on that occasion the favourable votes were 401. The vote shows the inner fractures in all different groups and, therefore, the weakness of the political majority supporting the new Commission. In this sense, all groups voting in favor had “dissidents” who did not follow the voting instructions: this is the case for the EPP, where the entire Spanish delegation voted against; the S&D, where the the French delegation voted against, together with other 13 colleagues, and the German one abstained; the ECR, where the Italian and Belgian delegations voted in favour, but not so the Polish. And finally, the Greens completely split, with the Italian, Spanish, and French delegations voting against, and the German mostly in favour.
Such a situation seems to be strengthening the political position of von der Leyen, who is gaining more power as parliamentary groups are weaker. Adding to this is the current political weakness of chancellor Scholz and president Macron, who have to deal with political turmoils in their respective countries. This power will allow the new Commission President to play with variable majorities depending on the issue at stake, and the EPP seems to be in an excellent place to impose its positions, since it is able to form alternative majorities on either side of the room (especially, with the right-wing groups, i.e. ECR, PfE and ESN).
From a perspective of self-governing online communities, these variable majorities can be risky, as it is hard to make predictions. But they also represent opportunities. It happens that more conservative groups adopt rather unexpected positions, including stances on specific issues like privacy and regulation. When it comes to child protection, for instance, they seem to be more sceptical toward broad age-verification provisions than some of their colleagues on the left. The position of the ECR group on online anonymity and child protection is one example.
The new relevant Commissioners
The increased power of President von der Leyen can be seen in the choice of Commissioners and her distribution of portfolios. Think, for instance, of what happened with Thierry Breton. In the last mandate, the former French Commissioner, who was a fierce critic of von der Leyen, resigned and publicly accused von der Leyen of plotting with Macron to exclude him from a second mandate. A claim that proved not to be far-fetched, as he was dropped and replaced with Stéphane Séjourné. Now, the only political counterbalance within the Commission is the Spanish executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera (S&D). But at this moment, Ribera doesn’t have a strong enough profile to make her impressive job title count. Time will tell.
The other Commissioners do not seem to carry enough weight to even come close to the President, who has shrewdly consolidated power in her hands. This circumstance clearly identifies the political responsibility of the future choices made by the Commission.
But, who are the other Commissioners who will be competent in areas that are of interest to Wikimedia and volunteer-driven projects in general, and on what they will work exactly?
Henna Virkkunen (DG CNECT)
First is Henna Virkkunen, the Finnish new digital champion who will be in charge of DG CNECT. Virkkunen is the new Executive Vice-President responsible for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, who will lead work of the Commission on these important topics. During the hearing, she specified that the Commission will work to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA), focusing on “four areas: 1) protection of minors online; 2) e-commerce and non-compliant goods on online marketplaces; 3) illegal content online, including algorithmic amplification of such content; and 4) the wider issue of information integrity in the context of elections, ensuring synergies with the new Democracy Shield”. Virkkunen also clarified that she will work to update the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD): in particular, she “would identify and exploit potential synergies between the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and digital laws and seek to simplify and streamline the regulatory framework”. In this sense, Virkkunen will work on the proper implementation of the European Media Freedom Act and closely cooperate “with the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law to ensure the European Media Freedom Act is implemented and delivers on the ground.”
On the important issue of copyright, Virkkunen clarified:
The EU is at the forefront of the regulation of AI and copyright — thanks to the rules on text and data mining in the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive and the recently adopted AI Act. These rules aim to strike a balance between innovation and the protection of rightsholders. Their effective application should provide legal certainty, not only for creators and creative industries, but also for AI developers. It is essential to make sure that these rules work in practice, particularly when rightsholders have reserved their rights under the text and data mining exception rule.
Furthermore, she pointed out that the Commission, by 2026, will carry out the evaluation of the Copyright Directive:
I would consider the need to further improve the EU copyright framework to address new challenges raised by market and technology developments. Supporting the development of a well-functioning market for licensing copyright-protected works for AI purposes, with balanced terms for different actors involved, is essential for ensuring appropriate remuneration for creators and creative industries while ensuring competitive access to high quality data for AI providers, particularly smaller EU providers. The Commission should investigate if specific licensing and mediation mechanisms can be envisaged to facilitate the conclusion of licenses between creative industries and AI companies and avoid any risks of lock-out.
Finally, when asked about the importance of digital public infrastructure, Virkkunen pointed out the need to preserve it, at the same time improving competition and privacy.
Michael McGrath (DG JUST)
Second is Michael McGrath, the Irish Commissioner responsible for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. He will be in charge, together with Virkkunen, of implementing the so-called European Democracy Shield: i.e., a “flagship initiative to preserve fairness, plurality and the integrity of our political system by protecting it from foreign information manipulation and interference,” and will steer DG JUST. In the hearing process, McGrath pointed out that he will “bring forward the the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030” and he will put “special attention to the protection of minors as online consumers — as active users of digital services (e.g., social media, video games)” in the implementation of the DSA. He also explained he will work on the so-called Digital Fairness Act, which “will protect consumers in the digital sphere and ensure they can fully benefit from the digital market,” supplementing the existing legislation—i.e. the DSA—and addressing “dark patterns, influencer marketing, addictive design and problematic personalisation.”
McGrath will also work to uphold EU fundamental values and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, with a special focus on media freedom and plurality as well as safety of journalists and human rights activists. He also stressed that he will:
“deepen the work to counter foreign information manipulation and interference and disinformation, to safeguard the fairness and integrity of elections and strengthen democratic checks and balances, to support building further our societal resilience and preparedness, and to put citizens at the heart of our democracy.”
McGrath specifically committed to “pay close attention to the Member States’ uptake of the 2021 Recommendation on the safety of journalists and the 2022 Recommendation on protecting journalists and human rights defenders against SLAPPs, taking further steps as needed,” ensure “swift and diligent implementation” of the anti-SLAPP Directive in close cooperation with Member States, as well as to “facilitate the swift and correct implementation of the European Media Freedom Act.” Finally, he intends to address the issue of the use of spyware through a non-legislative initiative, which will be carried out in consultation with Member States.
Glenn Micallef (DG EAC)
Third is Glenn Micallef, who will be in charge of Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport portfolio and work with DG EAC. Micallef will work together with Virkkunen on the issue of child protection and their wellbeing and address the issues of cyberbullying, addictive design—i.e., “design and system functionalities to take advantage of users’ and consumers’ vulnerabilities in order to capture their attention and increase the amount of time they spend on digital platforms”—and mental health. At the same time, he will cooperate with McGrath to implement the new European Democracy Shield. In this sense, Micallef pointed out that “challenges, such as disinformation and foreign information manipulation[,] affect young people in specific ways. Social media’s ability to amplify voices and movements has made them a powerful tool for youth engagement, but navigating them requires critical thinking.”
As for culture, Micallef will work to update the audio-visual media legal framework (AVMSD) and together with the Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy on:
A European Artificial Intelligence strategy for the cultural and creative sectors and industries, with the aim of ensuring that Artificial Intelligence enables and reinforces human creativity rather than replace humans, and that it safeguards cultural and linguistic diversity, while helping us to remain competitive in the global market.
Conclusions
For the first time, the European Parliament did not reject any of the proposed Commissioners-designate, and the new Commission has a very thin supporting majority. On the one hand, this circumstance, together with the weaknesses of the Franco-German axis in the European Council, reinforces the power of president von der Leyen. On the other hand, however, it might make it harder to find steady national and parliamentary partners for major political endeavours, thus making the European executive politically fragile. The new right-wing political groups in the parliament have grown in power and, therefore, it remains to be seen how such a political scenario will affect substantial work as well as the credibility of the Commission. For Wikimedia, the new political landscape comes with some unforeseeable risks, but could also open up new avenues.
For the time being, it seems that the EPP, and its chair Manfred Weber, can play the pivotal role. Developments at the national and international level, and a different political stance of the S&D group, could overturn this situation. It would not be bold to say that the EU has challenging years ahead.