News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 03 (12-18.01.2026)
AI: The European Commission has launched two new calls for proposals as part of the Horizon Europe Work Programme. A total of €307 million is allocating for artificial intelligence and related technologies. Applications can be submitted until 15 April 2026.
AI: A group of 57 lawmakers has called on the European Commission in a letter to ban AI apps that enable the creation of deepfake images.
Transatlantic relations: Teresa Ribera (Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition, and Commissioner for Competition) has emphasised the constitutional obligation under the EU treaties to defend and effectively enforce the EU’s digital rules.
Supervision: Politico reports on calls for an independent European technology supervisory authority outside the EU institutions.
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
- Monthly Highlights: Research digest for committees – January 2026
- Bulgaria’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play
- European defence readiness roadmap
- The Danish approach to copyright and deepfakes: A model for the EU?
- Roadworthiness package
- Background information on the post-2027 MFF – January 2026
- Risks and opportunities in evolving EU-US economic and financial relations
- Free movement of capital
- The European Democracy Shield: An overview
- The 28th regime: A new legal framework for innovative companies
- Just transition directive in the world of work: Creating jobs and revitalising local economies
- Affordable communications for businesses and consumers
- Consumer protection measures
- Direct taxation: Personal and company taxation
- Competition policy
- The internal market: general principles
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- European Research Area Act (until 23.01.2026)
- Political advertising – detailed arrangements for the European repository for online political advertisements (until 26.01.2026)
- EU strategy on combating trafficking in human beings 2026-2030 (until 26.01.2026)
- Fair labour mobility package (until 02.02.2026)
- European Open Digital Ecosystems (until 03.02.2026)
- European Investigation Order Directive (until02.2026)
- Product legislation – ensuring futureproof rules (revision of the New Legislative Framework – NLF) (until 04.02.2026)
- Communication on better regulation (until 04.02.2026)
- European Ocean Act (until 09.02.2026)
- European Social Security Pass (until 11.02.2026)
- Defence – simplifying EU rules for defence and sensitive security procurement (until 17.02.2026)
- Cross-border judicial cooperation – revision of Eurojust Regulation (impact assessment) (until 24.02.2026)
- Skills portability, action 1 – facilitating worker mobility across the EU through skills transparency and digitalisation (until 27.02.2026)
- A European Ocean Observation Initiative (until02.2026)
- Digital fitness check – testing the cumulative impact of the EU’s digital rules (until 11.03.2026)
- Simplification – digital package and omnibus (until 13.03.2026)
- European Critical Communication System (until 10.04.2026)
- Fighting organised crime – new EU rules (until04.2026)
- Construction Services Act (until04.2026)
Selections of the Current Week, CW 04 (19-25.01.2026)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 01.02.2026 can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
· This week, there are no Council meetings of relevance to the Internet industry.
Preparatory Bodies:
- Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth – Industry, 01.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Research, 01.2026, Agenda
- Committee on Cultural Affairs, 01.2026, Agenda
- WP on Hybrid Threats, 01.2026
- Working Party on Space, 01.2026, Agenda
- Financial Services Committee (FSC), 01.2026, Agenda
- Budget Committee, 01.2026, Agenda
- COREPER II, 01.2026, Agenda
- Ad Hoc Working Party On The Multiannual Financial Framework (European Competitiveness Fund), 01.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on the Law of the Sea, 01.2026, Agenda
- Budget Committee, 01.2026, Agenda
- Asia-Oceania Working Party (COASI), 01.2026, Agenda
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 01.2026, Agenda
- Education Committee, 01.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Consumer Protection and Information, 01.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Telecommunication and Information Society, 01.2026, Agenda
- Ad Hoc WP on prep. Council concl. on enhanc. prepared., resp. capability & resilience future crisis, 01.2026, Agenda
- Wp Foreign Relations Counsellors (Horizontal Files Field Of Ext. Relations (Horizontal Questions)), 01.2026, Agenda
- COREPER I, 01.2026, Agenda
- COREPER II, 01.2026, Agenda
- Education Committee, 01.2026, Agenda
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 (STRA)
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:
- The 28th Regime: a new legal framework for innovative companies
- Just transition directive in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies
- Tackling AI deepfakes and sexual exploitation on social media by making full use of the EU’s digital rules
- Presentation of the Cybersecurity Act
- Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2025
- Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2025
- Human Rights and Democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter – annual report 2025
- A stronger and more sovereign Europe amid rising geopolitical tensions and continuous threats to the rules-based order
- EU-US political relations
- Presentation of the Digital Networks Act
- Online piracy of sports and other live events: the urgent need to address unsolved issues
- Drones and new systems of warfare – the EU‘s need to adapt to be fit for today‘s security challenges
- Choice of performance indicators for audit and budgetary control in the context of financing measures to support the implementation of future European competitiveness
- European technological sovereignty and digital infrastructure
Here you can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament. The calendar of the plenary sittings for 2026 is available here (PDF).
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
The agenda for the current meetings of the LIBE Committee and the JURI Committee taking place on 19.01.2026 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:
- Exchange of views with Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law
and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath on the Justice programme for the
period 2028-2034
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 19.01.2026 can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda items are relevant:
- Exchange of views with Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law
and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath on the Justice programme for the
period 2028-2034 (jointly with the LIBE Committee; see separate agenda)
The current timetables of the JURI Committee can be found here.
No meeting of the ITRE Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables of the ITRE Committee (as of 13.01.2026) can be found here.
IMCO Committee (Internal Market)
No meeting of the IMCO Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables of the IMCO Committee (as of 03.12.2025) can be found here.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
No meeting of the CULT Committee is scheduled for this week.
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.
