ABOUT

Rita Wezenbeek joined the European Commission in 2002. Before moving to DG CONNECT in December 2020, Rita was the head of DG Competition’s Anti-Trust and Telecommunications Unit, in charge of applying the European competition rules in the area of electronic communications. Between 2010 and 2017, Rita was the head of DG Competition’s unit dealing with Retail Financial Services and Payment Systems. The unit ia. dealt with the investigations against MasterCard and Visa and was responsible for the competition elements of the legislative processes leading to the adoption of the Interchange Fee Regulation and the Payment Services Directive II, opening the EU payment services market for non-bank players.

Before joining the Commission, Rita worked for sixteen years as a private lawyer, specialized in European and corporate law, at the Dutch/ Belgian law firm Nauta Dutilh. During fifteen years, she also was a Member of the Commission on European Integration, an independent advisory body on foreign policy to the Dutch government and Parliament.