Policy & Law
14.04.2025

The View from Brussels #14-2025– Preview/Review: EU Parliament, Council, Commission

News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week

News CW 14 (31.03.2025-06.04.2025)

Virtual worlds: The European Commission has launched the “Virtual Worlds Toolbox” to help citizens explore new digital spaces.

AI: Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, described that potential productivity gains from AI as a game changer for Europe, and advocated for increased investment in data centres, fibre-optic networks and electricity grids.

Internal security: The German FAZ reports on the new strategy for the internal security of the Union. According to this, Europol should in future also be able to take action against sabotage, hybrid threats and disinformation. In addition, the question of how investigators could access encrypted data is being examined.

AI: A study by Interface and the Ada Lovelace Institute deals with the liability of AI agents, drawing on the UK law for self-driving cars.

AI: Euractiv reports on an open letter to the European Commission in which civil society calls for new AI liability rules.

Data protection law: Politico reports on upcoming GDPR reforms.

Tariffs: Politico reports on potential EU responses to US tariffs in the areas of Big Tech and digital services.

Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks

Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations

Selections of the CW 15 (07.04.2025-13.04.2025)

Council:

The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 20.04.2025 can be found here.

Summit and Ministerial Meetings:

Preparatory Bodies:

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

There are no plenary sittings of the European Parliament taking place this week.

Here you can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament. The calendar of the plenary sittings for 2025 is available here (PDF).

Committees

LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)

The agenda for the current meeting of the LIBE Committee taking place on 07-08.04.2025 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:

  • Temporary derogation from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and

Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as regards a progressive start of operations of the

Entry/Exit System

  • A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world
  • Exchange of views on the proposed Reform of Popular Prosecution and Media

Use in Spain

  • Exchange of views on the use of intrusive spyware and the need for a European

response

The current timetables of the LIBE Committee can be found here.

JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)

The agenda for the current meeting of the JURI Committee taking place on 09.04.2025 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:

  • Exchange of views with Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen
  • Compulsory licensing for crisis management and amending Regulation (EC) 816/2006
  • Exchange of views on the Recommendation on measures to combat counterfeiting and enhance the enforcement of intellectual property rights and the Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events
  • Exchange of views with the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation Daren Tang

The agenda for the special meeting of the JURI Committee on 10.04.2025 can be found here.

The current timetables of the JURI Committee can be found here.

ITRE Committee (Industry)

The agenda for the current meeting of the ITRE Committee taking place on 09.04.2025 can be found here.

The current timetables of the ITRE Committee (as of 01.04.2025) can be found here.

 

IMCO Committee (Internal Market)

The agenda for the current meeting of the IMCO Committee taking place on 07-08.04.2025 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:

  • Safety of toys and repealing Directive 2009/48/EC
  • Protection of minors online
  • Product safety and regulatory compliance in e-commerce and non-EU imports
  • A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world
  • Structured dialogue with Henna Virkkunen, European Commission Executive

Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

The current timetables of the IMCO Committee (as of 18.03.2025) can be found here.

CULT Committee (Culture and Education)

The agenda for the current meeting of the CULT Committee taking place on 07-08.04.2025 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:

  • Question to the Commission for written answer E-000347/2025 – What has the

European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s 9th Knowledge and

Innovation Community achieved? (Rule 144(5))

  • Public hearing on “Enhancing media literacy for the digital age”

The current timetables of the CULT Committee can be found here.

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 CJEU here.

The View from Brussels 1 October 2018

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