Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media since November 2004, was born in Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg ) in 1951.

After obtaining a doctorate in human sciences at the Sorbonne, she started a career as a journalist for the ΄Luxemburger Wort ΄ in 1978.She went into politics in 1979, first holding a seat in the Luxembourg Parliament before entering the European Parliament in 1989, where she was the leader of Luxembourg’s European People’s Party delegation.

In 1999 she became European Commissioner for Education and Culture, in which role she has launched new support programmes for culture (Culture 2000) and audiovisual policy (Media Plus) she also launched major actions in favour of youth and on sport policy, tackling the problems of doping and the exploitation of young people in professional sport.

In November 2004 she was given a new political responsibility to converge the Information Society and Audio Visual Policy areas.
In 2005, as part of the Lisbon Agenda, she established 2010; a five year strategic plan for jobs and growth in the information society.
As part of the i2010 goal to create a European Information Space she has made significant legislative proposals under the Commission's Single Market competences. Her proposals on the modernisation of the rules on audiovisual content and on international mobile roaming charges are expected to be adopted in the coming weeks. In summer 2007, she will launch proposals for a revision of Europe’s legislative framework for electronic communications that wills streamline the rules and make them a more effective force for the Single Market.

In parallel, she is fighting Europe’s digital divide in cooperation with the Commissioner responsible for Regional, Agricultural, Consumer Protection and Competition Policy. She has recently proposals on a wide range of issues from Digital Libraries, to Internet Security and RFID.