A new report from the French Senate outlines a strategy
for greater European internet governance spearheaded by
the Franco-German alliance. Only then can the EU compete
with US’s online hegemony. EurActiv France reports.
In a report published on 9 July, the French Senate
proposed a new form of internet governance for Europe.
The senators called on the EU to play a key role in
ensuring that internet governance is independent and
democratic.
According to Senator Gaëtan Gorce, head of the Senate’s
mission, appropriately titled New role and new strategy for the
European Union in the global governance of the
internet, “the Snowden affair came as a blessing”,
because it exposed the companies which store huge
amounts of personal data. The revelations shook up
public opinion, and people realised the importance of
healthy internet governance.
The US is the global leader of the digital sector: 36
of the 50 top digital media companies are American.
>> Read: EU challenges US hegemony in global
internet governance
“Internet governance has become a geopolitical issue.
It is a new global battleground,” said Senator Catherine
Morin-Desailly.
Reforming internet governance
The report contains 62 proposals aimed at “establishing
a national and European strategy to secure our place on
the digital world stage,” said Morin-Desailly. The
Senate wants to improve internet governance through “an
international treaty open to all states and an online
ratification process for internet users.” It also wants
to transform the Internet Governance Forum into a World
Internet Council, which would control the conformity of
decisions regarding internet governance.
The report also proposes to restructure the ICANN, a non-profit organisation
that coordinates the Internet's global domain name
system. It would become the World ICANN (WICANN),
conform to international law instead of Californian law,
and be accountable to the World Internet Council. An
independent and accessible appeal mechanism would be set
up to allow revision of WICANN decisions.
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On 26 June, the French Secretary of State for Digital
Affairs, Axelle Lemaire, took an assertive stance
against the ICANN. In a press release, she said that she
did not see the ICANN as “a suitable body to discuss
internet governance.”
Europe must make itself heard
The authors of the report claimed that Europe is not
vocal enough in discussions about internet governance.
It supports a previous report by Catherin
Morin-Desailly, The European Union, digital colony?
(December 2013). In it, Morin-Desailly stressed that
Europe had fallen behind: “Europe’s position is
shrinking. Two years ago 12 European companies featured
in the world’s top-hundred largest high-tech companies,
but now there are only eight.”
Morin-Desailly wants the EU to “take its digital
destiny into its own hands and make it a top political
priority”. She believes that the EU should “build a
European industrial strategy to gain more control over
our data and convey our values". It would be linked to
digital diplomacy “with a clear doctrine and financial
means” in order to promote European values online.
Franco-German partnership
There is a lack of political will. Paris could
spearhead the action, but it needs allies. The senators
believe that the France-German partnership could be the
engine behind Europe’s ambitions of internet governance.
A Franco-German alliance based on data-security is
possible because of Germany’s interest in the area. The
report proposes two concrete industrial projects: a
mobile operating system and a secure and open European
Cloud.
Gaëtan Gorce said it is in the EU’s interests to
“affirm its principles and not to be shy,” emphasising
the need to “speak as one and be coherent".