Axel Voss

Voss is Evangelical-Lutheran, married and has two daughters.{{Cite web|title=Wahlkreis|url=https://www.axel-voss-europa.de/wahlkreis/|access-date=2020-12-16|website=Axel Voss}} From 1983 to 1990, he studied law at the Universities of Trier, Munich, Freiburg, thereby specialized in European and international law, made a language stay in Paris and eventually passed the first Staatsexamen in 1990.{{Cite web|title=Curriculum vitae {{!}} Axel VOSS {{!}} MEPs {{!}} European Parliament|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/cv|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=7 April 1963 |language=en}} After assisting the UN Department of Technical Cooperation for Development in New York and a traineeship at the Supreme Provincial Court of Appeal in Koblenz, he finished his second Staatsexamen in 1994 and started to work as a lawyer.

Later that year, Voss became the Citizens' adviser of the European Commission at the regional Commission Representation in Bonn. From 2000 to 2008, he taught European affairs at the RheinAhrCampus in Remagen of the University of Applied Sciences in Koblenz.

Voss joined the German CDU in 1996 and chaired the Bonn affiliation from 2004 to 2009. Since 2011 he has been the district chair of the CDU in the Middle Rhine area.{{Cite web|title=Vorstand|url=http://www.cdu-mittelrhein.de/vorstand|access-date=2020-12-16|website=CDU Bezirksverband Mittelrhein|language=de}} Voss has also been a Member of the European Parliament for this constituency (which includes Bonn, Cologne, Leverkusen, Rhein-Sieg- and Rhein-Erft-Kreis) since the 2009 European elections.{{Cite web|date=2018-07-20|title=Axel Voss|url=https://www.cducsu.eu/personen/axel-voss|access-date=2020-12-16|website=CDU/CSU-Gruppe in der EVP-Fraktion|language=de}}

In his third parliamentary term from 2019 to 2024, he serves as member of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), deputy member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), member of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA), deputy chairman of the delegation for Australia and New Zealand (DANZ) and substitute member of the delegation for South Asia (DSAS).

Voss has been the rapporteur or shadow rapporteur for the center-right European People's Party group (EPP) on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Passenger Name Record (PNR), Eurojust regulation, EU-US Privacy Shield, Digital Content Directive, reform of the EU copyright law, ePrivacy Regulation, the European Parliament's legislative own-initiative report on a civil liability regime for Artificial Intelligence and the special report of the AIDA-committee.{{Cite web|title=Reports - as rapporteur {{!}} Axel VOSS {{!}} MEPs {{!}} European Parliament|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/main-activities/reports|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=7 April 1963 |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=7th parliamentary term {{!}} Axel VOSS {{!}} MEPs {{!}} European Parliament|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/history/7|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=7 April 1963 |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=8th parliamentary term {{!}} Axel VOSS {{!}} MEPs {{!}} European Parliament|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/history/8|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=7 April 1963 |language=en}}Mia Bartoloni (October 2, 2020) [https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/movers-and-shakers-2-october-2020 Movers and Shakers, 2 October 2020] The Parliament Magazine.

In 2014, when Edward Snowden testified before the European Parliament, Voss inquired why Snowden had chosen to go public with his information, if he had considered the potential risks for the lives of innocents and for the global efforts against terrorism, and about possible connections to Russian intelligence agencies.{{cite web|title=Edward Snowden's Testimony to the European Parliament on NSA Spying and its Consequences |url=https://www.independentsciencenews.org/science-media/edward-snowdens-testimony-to-the-european-parliament-on-nsa-spying-and-its-consequences/ |date=11 March 2014 |access-date=26 January 2021| website=www.independentsciencenews.org }}{{better source needed|date=February 2021}} However, Voss also stated that the clandestine access of third countries to European data is illegal. As rapporteur, Voss was an avid supporter of Article 13 of the European Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, saying that "this directive is an important step towards correcting a situation which has allowed a few companies to earn huge sums of money without properly remunerating the thousands of creatives and journalists whose work they depend on."{{Cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20190321IPR32110/european-parliament-approves-new-copyright-rules-for-the-internet|title=European Parliament approves new copyright rules for the internet {{!}} News {{!}} European Parliament|date=2019-03-26|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|language=en|access-date=2019-03-27}}

Since the GDPR was adopted in 2016, Voss repeatedly criticized the vast number of derogations, the inconsistent interpretation of the law among member states and the missing exemptions for small and medium-sized enterprises, organizations, clubs and societies as well as private users.{{Cite web|date=2018-05-18|title=Neue EU-Regeln zum Datenschutz nicht überinterpretieren|url=https://www.cducsu.eu/artikel/neue-eu-regeln-zum-datenschutz-nicht-ueberinterpretieren|access-date=2020-12-16|website=CDU/CSU-Gruppe in der EVP-Fraktion|language=de}} Considering 'consent' as the “death of privacy”, Voss strongly argues in favor of new technical approaches to simplify the processing of (personal) data, accelerate data sharing across Europe and to enable the full use of emerging technologies such as AI while protecting the personal data of citizens more effectively.{{Cite web|title=FEDMA Held a Debate on EU Digital Legislations Impact on Users and The Data-Driven Industry – Fedma|url=https://www.fedma.org/2018/04/fedma-held-a-debate-on-eu-digital-legislations-impact-on-users-and-the-data-driven-industry/|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.fedma.org|date=26 April 2018 }} Using similar arguments, he also rejects the proposal for a new ePrivacy regulation, especially since it would partially replace the GDPR provisions as lex specialis. Others, such as European Digital Rights, contradict his views and emphasis the massive improvements for the privacy of European citizens.{{Cite web|title=ePR EDRi position|url=https://www.contexte.com/medias/pdf/medias-documents/2017/03/ePR_EDRi_position_20170309.pdf}}

In early 2020, media reported on Voss' warning that Europe would become a "digital colony of the USA or China" if the member states could not agree on radical countermeasures and are not willing to expand the Digital Single Market massively.{{Cite news|last=Armbruster|first=Alexander|title=Digitalkonferenz DLD: "So wird Europa eine digitale Kolonie Amerikas oder Chinas"|language=de|work=FAZ.NET|url=https://www.faz.net/1.6588498|access-date=2020-12-16|issn=0174-4909}} "Europe must pursue a third - a European - path of digitalization, which is based on our values in data protection and data sovereignty" Voss said at the DLD conference in Munich.{{Cite web|last=Kroker|first=Michael|title=Digitalkonferenz DLD: Auf der Suche nach dem europäischen Weg in die Digitalisierung|url=https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/it/digitalkonferenz-dld-auf-der-suche-nach-dem-europaeischen-weg-in-die-digitalisierung/25448790.html|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.wiwo.de|date=19 January 2020 |language=de}} He later published a 19-page digital manifesto{{Cite web|title=Digital manifesto 2020 (engl.)|url=https://www.axel-voss-europa.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/AVoss-Digital-Manifesto-2020-english-1.pdf}} with a series of concrete proposals to the European institutions in order to strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty and geopolitical competitiveness.{{Cite web|last=Grüll|first=Philipp|date=2020-01-22|title=MEP Axel Voss publishes EU digital manifesto, warns of EU's 'digital dependency'|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/mep-axel-voss-publishes-eu-digital-manifesto-warns-of-eus-digital-dependency/|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.euractiv.com|language=en-GB}}

• Deutsche Telekom, Member of the Data Privacy Advisory Board[https://www.telekom.com/en/company/data-privacy-and-security/data-privacy-advisory-board Data Privacy Advisory Board] Deutsche Telekom.

• Europa-Union Deutschland, Chairman of the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chapter
• Mérite Européen Friendship group Germany, Vice-president
• Senator of SME Europe, the official business association of the European People's Party
• Rotary International, Member
• European Logistics Platform, Member of the Advisory Board[http://www.european-logistics-platform.eu/en/advisory-board/ Advisory Board] European Logistics Platform.

In 2019, Voss was the recipient of the Digital Single Market Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.{{cite news|url=https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/event-coverage/mep-awards-2019-heartfelt-reactions-our-winners|title=MEP Awards 2019: Heartfelt reactions from our winners|last=Hutchinson|first=Lorna|date=21 March 2019|work=The Parliament Magazine|access-date=13 August 2019}} Voss was also the recipient of the Digital Strategy and Single Marker Award at 2022 MEP Awards ceremony{{cite news|url=https://www.mepawards.eu/winners-2022/|title=MEP Awards: Winners 2022|date=21 September 2022|work=The Parliament Magazine|accessdate=24 August 2023}}.

File:Voss, Axel (en).webm

{{Commons category|Axel Voss}}

• [http://www.axel-voss-europa.de/ Homepage of Axel Voss] (German)
• [https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/home Axel Voss at the European Parliament]
• [https://www.eppgroup.eu/about-us/members/axel-voss Axel Voss in the EPP group]

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Category:1963 births

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