MEPs choose Bruno Gencarelli as top candidate for EU data protection watchdog

The Civil Liberties Committee selected Bruno Gencarelli as their preferred candidate for the role of European Data Protection Supervisor in a vote on Thursday.

MEPs in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs ranked the four candidates applying for the position of European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in a secret ballot.

Bruno Gencarelli was selected as the top candidate with 32 votes;

François Pellegrini received 30 votes;

Wojciech Wiewiórowski received 26 votes;

and Anna Pouliou received 11 votes.

Before the vote, MEPs held a hearing with the candidates to evaluate their suitability for the role, touching on the interplay between security and fundamental rights, including data retention and law enforcement questions; prioritisation and consistency after the EDPS's tasks have been expanded; and the impact of new technologies.

Next steps

The Civil Liberties Committee Chair will convey the outcome of the vote to the Conference of Presidents (EP President and the leaders of the political groups). Following their confirmation, Parliament and the Council will proceed to jointly appoint the new European Data Protection Supervisor for a term of five years.

Background

The European Data Protection Supervisor is the EU’s independent data protection authority. It supervises how the EU institutions and bodies process personal data to ensure compliance with privacy rules and advises them on all aspects of personal data processing and related policies and legislation.

In recent years, the role of the EDPS has been expanded by new digital legislation. For example, it is set to monitor the EU institutions’ compliance with the Artificial Intelligence Act in their use of AI systems.