Commissioner Reding's role for Insafe in 2009 "In 2009, the European Commission will launch a pan-European campaign through the INSAFE network, about the potential risks children and young people could meet online. It will kick off on Safer Internet Day on 10 February."

In the keynote speech at the Safer Internet Forum held in Luxembourg on 26 September 2008, Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, gave an overview of the achievements and challenges brought by social networking.

As a part of the continuing role for awareness raising by the Insafe network, she made public the plans for a new campaign to be launched on Safer Internet Day 2009. She added: "The Commission will continue its efforts to increase the safety of children online. The new Safer Internet Programme proposed by the Commission for the period 2009-2013 and which I hope will be adopted by the European Parliament and Council by the end of the year, includes new actions, to encompass risks raised in particular by social networking services, like cyber-bullying and grooming. This programme will also fund projects to better understand the use of the Internet, including social networking sites, by children."

Photo of Commissioner Reding "at work" © European Communities