News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW42 (14.10.2024 – 20.10.2024)
EU Cybersecurity Act: The implementation of the NIS2 Directive, which is intended to promote a high level of cybersecurity standards in the EU, has not yet been fully completed by most Member States. Political and operational hurdles, such as national differences in certifications and legal standards, have made harmonisation more difficult. Only a few countries such as Belgium, Italy and Croatia have reported partial progress, while further measures are expected from the EU Commission. (Euractiv.com)
Horizon Europe budget increase: An expert group recommends doubling the budget for the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme from 93.5 billion to 220 billion Euros to boost competitiveness and innovation. The report emphasises the importance of targeted and earmarked funds and contradicts the Commission’s plans to restructure the programme in favour of a more flexible competition fund. It also calls for a radical simplification of the programmes to respond more effectively to scientific and technological challenges. (Euractiv.com)
Big tech regulation: The US government is currently considering measures to break up Google for anti-competitive behaviour, giving the European Union a stronger position to regulate big tech companies. The EU Commission is about to finalise an investigation into Google’s advertising business and is also considering drastic measures, including structural interventions. The parallel developments in the US strengthen the EU’s willingness to enforce strict regulations against big tech. (Politico.eu)
Disinformation and EU elections: Despite extensive disinformation campaigns and foreign interference attempts, the EU parliamentary election remained largely unaffected by these threats. The European Commission confirmed that while there was a record amount of EU-related disinformation online, there was no major event that significantly affected the elections. Nevertheless, concerns remain that the advancement of AI technologies could make future elections more vulnerable. (Politico.eu)
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
- Confirmation hearings of the Commissioners-designate: Henna Virkkunen – Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
- Deepening the single market in the light of the Letta and Draghi reports
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- EU cybersecurity certification scheme – amendment to the list of state-of-the-art documents (until 18.10.2024)
- EU Cybersecurity Act – rules for notifications of conformity assessment bodies (until 18.10.2024)
- Artificial intelligence – implementing regulation establishing a scientific panel of independent experts (until 15.11.2024)
Selections of the CW 43 (21.10.2024 – 27.10.2024)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 03.11.2024 can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
This week, there are no Council meetings of relevance to the Internet industry.
Preparatory Bodies:
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 21 October 2024
- ANTICI GROUP, 22 October 2024
- Working Party on Intellectual Property, 22 October 2024
- WP on Hybrid Threats, 22 October 2024
- JHA COUNSELLORS, 22 October 2024
- Coreper I, 23 October 2024
- Coreper II, 23 October 2024
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 23 October 2024
- Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX), 24 October 2024
- Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society, 24 October 2024
An overview of the various Council dates can be found here.
Commission:
The agenda of the current Commission meeting was not available at our time of writing. You can potentially find it on the Commission’s website in the near future.
Parliament:
Plenary Sittings (Strasbourg)
The agenda for the current plenary sittings week can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:
- Closing the skills gap in the EU: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report
- Misuse of new technologies: Addressing the manipulation and radicalization of young people through hate speech and anti-democratic statements
- Commission statement
Here you will find the current dates for the current week in the European Parliament. The calendar of sessions for 2024 is available here.
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
No meeting of the LIBE Committee is scheduled for this week.
JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)
No meeting of the JURI Committee is scheduled for this week.
No meeting of the ITRE Committee is scheduled for this week.
IMCO Committee (Internal Market)
No meeting of the IMCO Committee is scheduled for this week.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
No meeting of the CULT Committee is scheduled for this week.
Outlook:
An overview of the following session weeks can be found here. The provisional agenda for the upcoming plenary sittings can be found here.
European Court of Justice
You can find the judicial calendar of the ECJ here.
