Policy Breakfast on The Future of Internet Governance at the European Parliament

On 19 March, eco, the Association of the German Internet Industry organised with the help of EuroISPA a policy Breakfast in the European Parliament. The event hosted by MEP Nadja Hirsch gathered around 40 participants, including members of Parliament and their staff, permanent representatives and company representatives to discuss “The Future of Internet Governance – who rules the Internet”.

Internet governance has evolved considerably in recent years. It became one of the most pressing issues that will determine the agenda of the International Policy Network in the years to come. Following the announcement of the U.S. government to give up the oversight of ICANN, the question to carry out an in-depth reform of the management of the Internet and develop new international supervisory structures has gained more and more importance. As next step, government representatives, industry and civil society will discuss a roadmap of a new Internet Governance system during the April NETMunidal meeting São Paulo “Global Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance”.

In his presentation, Oliver Süme, President of EuroISPA, clarified the concept of Internet Governance, its importance for the Internet economy and gave an overview of ICANN and IANA responsibilities. He explained the technical, administrative and organisational aspects of top-level domains and IP address assignment. Regarding the upcoming transition process, he stressed the need to assess the situation taking into account key underlining principles such as support for the multistakeholder model, maintain the security, stability and resilience of the Internet DNS, maintain the openness of the Internet.