De Europese commissie heeft zichzelf vernieuwd. En dat is een onvermijdelijk onderdeel van het miljardencircus dat de EU is. Maar dat daarmee Margrethe Vestager afscheid neemt is een triest feit. Tenzij je een robber baron bent, en daar vallen tegenwoordig zo’n beetje alle technologie bedrijven onder die iets met AI doen. Zij hebben bijna zonder uitzondering het ethisch vermogen van een beerdiertje en helaas ook het overlevingsvermogen. En dat betekent dat de opvolger van Vestager (Teresa Ribera Rodríguez ) een zeer zware klus te wachten staat.

Vestager heeft de afgelopen 10 jaar de digital wereld proberen te fatsoeneren door zich teweer te stellen tegen (onder meer) giganten als Google, Apple en Amazon. Waarbij ze als grootste teken van waardering Trump’s afkeur verdiende:

At the time, the U.S. digital titans were growing quickly and were highly popular for their innovations. Ms. Vestager grappled with backlash for her actions, with tech leaders saying she was stymieing Europe’s economy by scaring off start-ups from building in the region. In 2018, President Donald J. Trump reportedly said she “really hates” America. (NYT)

But as Ms. Vestager closes out her era in Brussels, regulating the tech industry has become more mainstream around the world. Thanks to her, Europe is now widely seen as the pioneer of the toughest laws against tech. U.S. regulators have in recent years followed Europe by bringing antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon. Regulators in South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere are also taking on the tech giants.

Ms. Vestager said that she was proud of her tenure, but that it had been only “partly successful.” She said that she wished her office could have moved faster and that she had pushed for companies to make tougher structural changes in addition to issuing fines. She urged regulators everywhere to be “bolder.”

Ms. Vestager said it was “very difficult to say” how things would change under Mr. Trump, but she noted how quickly tech leaders had congratulated him on his election. “When you saw how fast tech leaders congratulated President-elect Trump, you see that there was a strong hope that this will all change,” she said.

Teresa Ribera Rodríguez heeft de schier onmogelijke taak om de schoenen van Vestager te vullen. Ik hoop dat ze dezelfde titanium ruggengraat heeft.