“She’s back” was
the whispered rumour circulating the Xmas dining table yesterday afternoon.
“Dame Voldemort’s
back” was the other cry from yet another weary data protection officer, who had
sought refuge in the company of like minded souls by attending a gathering in
Central London, co-incidentally not that far from the real entrance to Diagon
Alley. (Harry Potter aficionados will appreciate that Diagon Alley can be
accessed by leaping through a portal in London’s Leadenhall Market).
No longer a Vice
President of the European Commission, but still stalking the corridors of power
in Brussels. Reincarnated as a humble MEP, the EuroQueen of Data Protection is
back on the warpath, whipping up support for her precious Data Protection Diregulation.
She’s ensuring
that progress continues to be made on the text, so that everyone can proclaim
towards the end of next year “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have done it.” This is the same phrase she used in January
2012, when presiding over the press conference that unveiled the text of the
original draft Regulation.
Just as former US
President Bush is unlikely to escape the “Mission Accomplished” tag, the
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have done it” catchphrase will follow her wherever
she goes.
Why is she back? And
again available for conferences, interviews and private data protection
functions.
Why ever would she
want to go away, really?
The opportunity of
being forever associated with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset data
protection rules is too great to pass.
And, to be frank,
Europe needs her.
She may have
vacated her seat on the European Commission, but she’s still the strongest
woman in Europe. Its taking three European Commissioners to assume the mantle
of pushing data protection reform through to the bitter end, and hardly anyone
has heard of her successors. Not even I could reel off all their names without
checking the European Commission’s website. And I certainly wouldn’t be able to
recogise any of them should they be in front of me in the queue for pies at Borough
Market.
These mystery
Commissioners had really better get their publicity act together, and quickly,
if anyone is to take any note of them. Self-promotion does not appear to be a
quality any of them have.
No, we need the
theatrics of the bouffant hair, the glittering jewelry, the huddle of
courtiers, the fleet of cars, and the buzz of excitement as the great woman
herself appears to glide to the podium, to read words so carefully crafted by
hands unseen. We miss that steely glint in her eye, that flash of a smile, that
regal diction. Oh, the majesty of the show. What a performance. She knows how
to impress, and what a void she (momentarily) left.
She can create a
buzz. A sense of urgency. A deadline that can’t be missed.
So, expect more
interventions from the great woman herself. She may leave the current crop of
Commissioners in her shadow, but that’s not necessarily a problem. She’s
seeking a higher reward. She’s going to do her utmost to ram fundamental data
protection rights down our throats, whether we like it or not. She’ll have no
time for the wavering Member States, and will focus her fury on the
recalcitrant countries represented on the DAPIX working group that are bent on watering
down her precious Diregulation even further.
Thanks to the
force of her personality, the odds are increasing that something will be done
by the end of 2015. It may not work, immediately or at all, but that’s not the
point. Its her job to get stuff done, to banish non-believers to non-EU
oblivion, to turn Fortress Europe into the state with the strictest data
protection soundbites rules in the world, and then not to sit back and
relax, but to focus her oh so formidable energies on changing something else.
She’s back.
“Hallelujah” cried
a few.
Yesterday, a few others
just cried into their pumpkin soup.
.
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