Sophia Antipolis, France, 1 October 2025

On 1 October 2025, ETSI’s Director-General, Mr. Jan Ellsberger, and Chief Policy Officer, Mr. Martin Chatel, were honoured to meet with European Commission Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Ms. Henna Virkkunen.

At this occasion, the ETSI Director-General reaffirmed:

  • The desire to strengthen the longstanding public-private partnership between ETSI and the European Commission, in support of Executive Vice President Virkkunen’s agenda to promote EU digital norms and standards internationally in critical digital areas like Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Data, 6G, Cloud and Quantum.
  • The role of ETSI in advancing digital standardisation efforts, promoting the international uptake of European standards through an open, transparent and direct-participation model, leveraging ETSI’s role as both European Standardisation Organisation (ESO) and a globally recognised Standards Development Organisation (SDO).

As Jan Ellsbeger put:

“ETSI stands ready to serve as a strategic partner in supporting the Executive Vice President’s priorities, whether in relation to the International Digital Strategy, the Quantum Europe Strategy, or other initiatives. ETSI brings together technology companies, research entities, academia, governments and societal stakeholders from the EU and beyond with the aim of fostering technical alignment while advancing the global digital transition through standards.”

As Martin Chatel added:

“ETSI's model facilitates technical cooperation between experts and serves as a platform for international discussions on digital matters. It allows partners to engage in robust cooperation and to access the wide range of ETSI’s digital standards available free of charge. Such a model helps ensuring interoperability, reducing technical barriers to trade, promoting the adoption of European standards, supporting EU policies and the competitiveness of European businesses in international markets.”

 ETSIs DG meets EC Executive VP Henna Virkkunen 1 ETSIs DG meets EC Executive VP Henna Virkkunen 2 

ETSI would like to sincerely thank Executive Vice President Ms. Henna Virkkunen.