News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 33 (10/08/2026 – 16/08/2026)
AI: OpenAI has paused some internal work involving its AI model Astra after tests showed that it had reached a “critical” cybersecurity capability, including autonomously identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities and potentially carrying out cyberattacks from high-level instructions. The company is introducing stricter safeguards, such as isolated testing environments, restricted network and tool access, enhanced monitoring and stronger protection of model weights. The development adds to broader concerns about increasingly autonomous AI agents and the ability to keep highly capable models under effective human control.
Cyber: Taiwanese authorities reported an AI-assisted cyberattack targeting government agencies and critical infrastructure, including the nuclear safety authority and energy companies. According to the report, attackers used AI agents to automate parts of the operation, illustrating how generative AI can increasingly support sophisticated cyberattacks at scale. The activity is suspected to be linked to China, although attribution remains uncertain.
Social Media: Meta has blocked hundreds of thousands of accounts belonging to Australian teenagers as it complies with the country’s ban on social media access for users under 16. The company is using AI to identify potentially underage users based on signals such as birthday posts or school-year references, while Australia is considering significantly higher fines as many teenagers continue to use social media despite the ban.
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- Digital Networks Act (until 07/09/2026)
- EU Teachers Agenda – enhancing the attractiveness of the education and training profession (until 08/09/2026)
- Quality education for all: a 2040 roadmap (until 08/09/2026)
- Chips Act 2 (until 10/09/2026)
- Artificial intelligence strategy for the cultural and creative sectors (until 11/09/2026)
- The Union Position for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (until 11/09/2026)
- Crypto asset markets – evaluation of the EU legal framework (until 30/09/2026)
- AI Continent – new cloud and AI development act (until 05/10/2026)
- Dual-use export controls – evaluation of the Dual-Use Regulation (until 15/10/2026)
- Horizon Europe – European Partnerships to be implemented as joint undertakings (until 16/10/2026)
Selections of the Current Week CW 34 (17/08/2026 – 23/08/2026)
Council:
The current outlook for the Council’s work in the coming days was not available at the time of writing. You may be able to find it shortly on the Council’s website.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
- No Council meetings are taking place this week.
Preparatory Bodies:
- No Council meetings are taking place this week.
An overview of the various Council dates can be found here.
Commission:
The agenda for the current Commission meeting was not available at the time of going to press. You may be able to find it at short notice on the Commission’s website.
Parliament:
Plenary
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.
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 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 15/07/2026) 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 (as of 16/07/2026) 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 ECJ here.
