MEP Schaake advocates the need for a Digital Committee in the European Parliament

MEP Schaake elaborated that although new technologies have changed societies the European Parliament still has not broached the subject yet.

European Parliamentary committees are divided in 20 committees, each focusing on a specially designated topic. For the ecommerce sector, this has proven problematic in the past: the ecommerce sector is affected by various topics such as payments, privacy and transport. Yet all this parallel policy areas have often moved in different directions which proved to be detrimental for the industry in some cases.

Schaake thinks that by issuing one digital themes-related committee, from net neutrality to copyright and from cyber security to internet governance, one could better allocate the knowledge and resources.

She also thinks that power division among committees is a reflection of the past and that Europe should turn competitive and innovative, starting with European Parliament’s priorities which, before all, should keep pace with developments in technology.