eBay Inc. welcomes the new European Commission, led by President Jean-Claude Juncker, which took office this week. The expectation is that the digital economy will feature prominently across policy priorities. President Juncker’s Political Guidelines have correctly identified the need to make better use of the great opportunities offered by digital technologies, which know no borders. The significance the new digital economy could also be heard during the confirmation process, where the individual Commissioners were questioned by the European Parliament.
Moreover, in the new institutional set-up introduced by Juncker, the digital portfolio will have two leaders in the Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, and the Commissioner for Digital Economy & Society, Günther Oettinger. The creation of the broader Digital Vice-President post indeed demonstrates Juncker’s commitment to embrace the digital transition in all areas of society, and all Commission portfolios, in order to ensure that Europe can strengthen its competitiveness and preserve its industrial, social and political fabric.
In their confirmation hearings, both VP Ansip and Commissioner Oettinger expressed a strong will to continue the leadership that outgoing Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes has shown in driving European digital policy to the next stage. As part of her legacy, Kroes recently asked eBay Inc CEO John Donahoe to contribute to her "Digital Minds for a New Europe" project that gathers leaders’ thoughts on the digital future and its impact on Europe. In his piece, John Donahoe notes that “It is increasingly clear that the Internet and mobile technologies are transforming global commerce in a ways that will expand growth, promote sustainability and, maybe most important of all, make globalization a more inclusive phenomenon. Now the challenge is to maximize this great economic and social opportunity.”
What is particularly exciting about a future built on the internet model is that a small business or entrepreneur, based anywhere in Europe, even in a remote region, can reach and serve the same potential customer base as a large business, probably operating out of a major city. Small aspiring firms can now enjoy the benefits of “going global” while remaining local, and bringing the benefits of that commerce back to their local communities. Likewise, Europe's citizens wherever they live can drive EU – and in fact worldwide - growth through active, considered and borderless choices.