NEW COMMISSION/FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS : REDING TO MODERNISE PROTECTION OF PRIVATE LIFE.

Viviane Reding, the commissioner-designate for the new portfolio of justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, opened her European Parliament hearing, on 12 January, by setting out three priority areas that she will focus on if confirmed in the post: strengthening the European Union's position in protecting citizens' privacy in all EU policies, strengthening the right of citizens to move freely in the EU, and the need to ensure that all accused and suspected persons have clear rights in Europe.

Among other things, she said her intention was to modernise the EU directive, in force since 1995, on the protection of personal data. The "world has changed," she said, recalling the role of the internet in general and that of the social networking sites like Facebook in particular. She also mentioned the practice of profiling of internet users for targeted advertising. "These regulations will, in an improved form, be strictly applied in all actions and international agreements that have to do with new technologies, the rights of the consumers or public security," she said.

In all areas, Reding stressed the importance of now having the Lisbon Treaty in place and the fact that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is legally binding and, as the commissioner-designate put it, "on an equal footing" with the treaties.

"It has been a long journey to arrive here," Reding told parliamentarians. "Our citizens will now expect from Europe action and concrete results."

The Charter of Fundamental Rights should be the "compass for all EU policies," Reding said. As a result, she plans to propose adding a fundamental rights chapter to all impact assessments so that all Commission departments justify their actions in this respect. She also plans to ensure that all member states fully comply when they implement EU law. There will be "a zero tolerance policy" with regards to violating the charter, she said.

On formally reconciling the coexistence of the EU's two supreme documents on fundamental rights - the Strasbourg Convention and the EU Charter - Reding said that "negotiations will start very quickly indeed" to allow for a swift accession of the Union to the Strasbourg Convention. "My objective is to bring Strasbourg and Luxembourg into a coherent system of fundamental rights protection that in the end will clarify and strengthen the fundamental rights citizens enjoy in Europe," Reding said.

The reformed EU treaty states that the Union should offer an area of...