The View from Brussels #07-2026
News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 07 (9-15 February 2026)
Cyberbullying: The European Commission has presented an action plan against cyberbullying, which aims to protect the mental health of children and young people on the Internet. An EU-wide app for reporting cyberbullying is to be introduced, through which victims can also receive support. At the same time, national efforts are to be coordinated and prevention will be strengthened by promoting better and safer digital practices.
Chips: NanoIC, the largest pilot line under the Chips Act, has been put into operation at IMEC Leuven. It is the first European facility to use extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment. This enables chips to be developed and manufactured using technologies in the sub-two-nanometre range.
Drones: The EU Commission has presented an action plan to combat the growing threat to EU security posed by drones. Among other things, it envisages using 5G networks for drone detection. 5G enables precise real-time tracking of flying objects.
Quantum computing: The third EuroHPC quantum computer, Euro-Q-Exa, was inaugurated at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Munich.
Security: The NIS Cooperation Group has developed a toolbox to improve security in the information and communication technology (ICT) supply chain.
Cyber: Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, has spoken out in favour of offensive cyber operations. Defence alone is not enough – offensive capabilities are also necessary.
Data protection: The ECJ has ruled that affected companies can have binding decisions by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) reviewed by EU courts.
Social media: Euractiv summarises the current debates on bans for minors.
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
- Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Digital Omnibus on AI
- Sweden’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play
- EU action against harmful gender stereotypes
- EU funding instruments for policy areas under the remit of the CULT Committee
- Plenary round-up – February 2026
- The Near-term Future of the Transatlantic Relationship
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- Defence – Simplifying EU rules for awarding sensitive contracts in the fields of defence and security (until 17 February 2026)
- European strategy for vocational education and training (until 19 February 2026)
- Action plan for women in research, innovation and start-ups (until 23 February 2026)
- Cross-border judicial cooperation – Revision of the Eurojust Regulation (impact assessment) (by 24 February 2026)
- Skills portability, Action 1 – Promoting labour mobility across the EU through improved transparency of skills and digitalisation (until 27 February 2026)
- European digital identity wallet – Standards and technical specifications (update) (until 5 March 2026)
- European Digital Identity Wallet – electronic attribute certificates (update) (until 5 March 2026)
- European Digital Identity Wallet – Registration of wallet relying parties (update) (until 5 March 2026)
- Fit and proper test for digital rules – Review of the cumulative impact of EU digital rules (until 11 March 2026)
- Simplification – Digital package and omnibus (until 13 March 2026)
- The EU Cybersecurity Act (until 13 April 2026)
- European Critical Communications System (until 10 April 2026)
- Whistleblower Protection Directive – Evaluation (by 22 April 2026)
- Audiovisual media services – evaluation and update of EU rules (until 1 May 2026)
Selections of the Current Week CW 08 (16-22 February 2026)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work for the coming days until 1 March 2026 can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
This week there are no Council meetings (relevant to the Internet industry).
Preparatory Bodies:
- Committee on Cultural Affairs, 16-17 February 2026, agenda
- Research Group, 16 February 2026, agenda
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 02.2026
- Coreper II, 16 February 2026, agenda
- WP on Hybrid Threats, 17 February 2026
- WP on Civil Protection (Prociv) (Critical Entities Resilience (Cer)), 17 February 2026
- Coreper II, 18 February 2026, agenda
- Antici Gr. (Simplification), 18 February 2026, agenda
- Coreper I, 18 February 2026, agenda
- JHA INFORMATION EXCHANGE, 18 February 2026, agenda
- Civil Law Working Party (JUSTCIV), 19 February 2026, agenda
- Ad Hoc WP on prep. Council concl. on enhanc. prepared., resp. capability & resilience future crisis,02.2026 , Agenda
- Telecommunications and Information Society Working Party, 19 February 2026, Agenda
- Coreper II, 20 February 2026, agenda
- Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security (COSI), 20 February 2026, Agenda
- Audiovisual Media Working Party, 20 February 2026, agenda
An overview of the various Council meetings can be found here.
Commission:
The agenda for the current Commission meeting was not available at the time of publication. 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)
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 (as of 10 February 2026) of the ITRE Committee 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 27 January 2026) can be found here.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
No meeting of the CULT Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables for the CULT Committee can be found here.
Outlook:
An overview of the following session weeks can be found here. The provisional agendas for the upcoming plenary sittings can be found here and here.
European Court of Justice
You can find the judicial calendar of the CJEU here.
