Viviane Adélaïde[citation needed] Reding (born 27 April 1951) is a Luxembourgish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg.

Before starting a professional career as a journalist for the leading newspaper in Luxembourg, the Luxemburger Wort, she obtained a doctorate in human sciences at the Sorbonne.

[3] Reding started her political career in 1979 as a Member of the Luxembourg Parliament and held the following positions: From 1981 to 1999, she was Communal conciliator of the city of Esch, in which she was President of the Cultural Affairs Committee from 1992 to 1999.

[6] On 7 April 2006 the commission launched the new ".eu" TLD for websites for EU companies and citizens wishing to have a non-national European internet address.

[9] Reding also proposed that major European telecom companies be forced to separate their network and service operations to promote competition in the market.

Reding is known as an advocate for an open Internet, resisting attempts in 2010 by her colleague, Swedish EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, to block access to websites.

She has also initiated a series of proposals aimed at making justice contribute for growth enabling both businesses and consumers to benefit fully from their rights in the European single market.

[23] She has also put in motion a citizenship-centred agenda with the drafting of the first-ever EU Citizenship report in October 2010[24] proposing concrete measures to make European Union citizens' lives easier.

[32] After a long discussion in the European Commission Mrs Reding's ideas, shared, among others, by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso and the Commissioners with economic portfolios (Joaquín Almunia, Antonio Tajani, Olli Rehn, Michel Barnier and Laszlo Andor) prevailed over the views of fellow Commissioners such as Neelie Kroes, Catherine Ashton, Cecilia Malmström and Janusz Lewandowski and a proposal for a Directive was adopted on 14 November 2012.

On 7 July 2010, Reding had an official meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, to launch joint talks on the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.

[39] On 11 July 2011, Reding expressed criticism of the power exercised by the three major US credit rating agencies stating that breaking up the big three was an option being considered.

She used the opportunity to invite UEFA "to take account of the dramatic situation of Yulia Tymoshenko" stressing that Europeans "cannot close their eyes on human rights even during a great sporting celebration".

In December 2012, in an interview to the Daily Telegraph[43] Reding dubbed as "crazy" the plans of United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron to opt out from EU co-operation mechanisms such as Europol, Eurojust and the European Arrest Warrant.

[45] This stance in favour of democracy and the rule of law has brought her strong attacks by the right wing Fidesz controlled government of Viktor Orbán in Hungary.

[57] In May 2012 Reding delivered a speech on the Future of Europe in Tallinn, Estonia at the XXV Congress of the Fédération Internationale du Droit Européen.

[58] On 12 September 2012 José Manuel Barroso delivered the State of the Union speech[59] in Strasbourg, taking up and elaborating on many of the ideas set out by Reding since early 2012.

[69] After the leak of a French Interior Ministry circular of 5 August 2010, Reding made a public statement that was interpreted as likening the 2010 French deportations of the Roma to those made from France by the occupying German forces during World War II: "I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority.

He stated that France continues to welcome refugees and that "we refuse the creation of slums... that are unworthy of French Republic or European ideals."

Mr Sarkozy denounced Reding's comments as "scandalous" and stated that "if Luxembourg wants to take in Roma, that is no problem" as far as France is concerned.

[76] President Sarkozy pointed out that Mrs Reding had been silent during larger-scale expulsions by other countries in earlier years, including by Italy specifically of its Roma during 2009 and when police reject Romani travellers trying to enter Luxembourg.

French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said that in her statement Reding "intentionally skids, if I may say, that is she uses an expression aimed to shock, that contains an anachronistic fallacy, and that creates a false amalgam".

[86] In August 2012, Reding put the action of the French socialist government of Jean-Marc Ayrault and his Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls under surveillance responding to alleged expulsions of Roma people.

Corporate Europa Revolvingdoorwatch Reding has been awarded the following prizes and distinctions: In 2012, the US-based magazine Foreign Policy[92] ranked Viviane Reding at number 97[93] in its list of top 100 Global Thinkers[94] recognizing her leadership in promoting the economic benefits of the role of women in top management and in the boards of companies.