News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 05 (26.01-01.02.2026)
DSA: The EU Commission has designated WhatsApp as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), as its “Channels” feature reaches the designation threshold of at least 45 million users in the EU.
Cybersecurity: The European Union and Japan held their seventh Cyber Dialogue in Brussels.
Chips: The FAMES pilot line in Grenoble was officially inaugurated as the first of five Chips Act pilot lines. Advanced, particularly energy-efficient semiconductor technologies can be prototyped here.
Cybersecurity: Juhan Lepassaar, the executive director of the EU’s Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), calls for more investment in cybersecurity in light of increasingly frequent and rapid cyberattacks. Capacities would have to be at least doubled.
Technological sovereignty: Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, warns against dependence on foreign technologies.
Cybersecurity: Polish researcher Paulina Uznańska has warned members of the European Parliament’s industry and defence committees that such connected cars could be used for cyberattacks. For example, data on military restricted zones could be collected while driving past. The EU must therefore begin to protect military facilities and critical infrastructure.
Social media: Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated that while France can decide on the planned usage ban for under-15s, it is dependent on the European Commission’s assistant for implementation – only the Commission and the DSA public authorities can impose additional obligations on very large online platforms.
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
- Audiovisual and media policy
- Small and medium-sized enterprises
- The EU’s new bilateral security and defence partnerships
- Education
- Public procurement contracts
- Medicines and Medical Devices
- Language policy
- EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027: Taking stock and the way forward
- Understanding EU data protection policy
- Circular economy act
- Resilience of the Banking Union’s Non-Cash Payment Systems
- Mapping of existing, proposed and potential own resources as well as other revenue sources
- Public health
- Strategic autonomy, competitiveness and supply chain resilience in the EU
- Research for PECH Committee – Assessing the impact of seafood imports on EU self-sufficiency
- Towards a Coherent EU Defence Investment Framework
- Financing competitiveness in the EU
- Research for PECH Committee – Assessing the impact of seafood imports on EU self-sufficiency
- Competitiveness in the current 2021-2027 MFF
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- 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)
- Fighting online fraud – action plan (until 13.02.2026)
- Defence – simplifying EU rules for defence and sensitive security procurement (until 17.02.2026)
- European strategy for vocational education and training (until 19.02.2026)
- Action plan for women in research, innovation and startups (until 23.02.2026)
- 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)
- 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)
- Whistleblower Protection Directive – evaluation (until04.2026)
Selections of the Current Week, CW 06 (02-08.02.2026)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 15.02.2026 can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
- Informal meeting of competitiveness ministers (Internal market and industry), 02-03.02.2026, Agenda
Preparatory Bodies:
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Research, 02.2026, Agenda
- COREPER II, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society, 02.2026, Agenda
- WP on Hybrid Threats, 02.2026
- Working Party on Space, 02.2026, Agenda
- COREPER II, 02.2026, Agenda
- Wp Foreign Relations Counsellors (Legal, Financial & Institutial Aspects Cfsp (Sanctions)), 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Research, 02.2026, Agenda
- JHA COUNSELLORS, 02.2026
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Frontiers, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Research, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Public International Law, 02.2026, Agenda
- COREPER I, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Shipping, 02.2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Intellectual Property – Copyright, 02.2026, 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
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 2026 is available here (PDF).
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
No meeting of the LIBE Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables of the LIBE Committee can be found here.
JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)
No meeting of the JURI Committee is scheduled for this week.
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 27.01.2026) 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 03.12.2026) 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.
The judgment in the case Radical-Consulting et al. / EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (T-328/23) is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday, 4 February 2026.
