Policy & Law
14.04.2025

The View from Brussels #13-2025

News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week

News CW 13 (24.03.2025-30.03.2025)

Digital technologies: The European Commission will allocate 1.3 billion Euro in the period up to 2027 through the Digital Europe Programme for the deployment of critical technologies that are strategically important for the future of Europe and the continent’s tech sovereignty. Funding will focus primarily on the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, cybersecurity and digital education.

AI: The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has for the first time recognised an AI-based diagnostic tool as scientifically valid. The software, developed by AIM-NASH, is used to analyse liver biopsy scans and determine the severity of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Patent applications: In 2024, the European Patent Office recorded the highest number of patent applications (16,815) in the field of computer technology, which also includes, for the first time, sub-areas of artificial intelligence (AI) such as machine learning and pattern recognition. Digital communication, which includes inventions in the field of mobile networks, was the third most popular area with 15,983 patent applications.

Digital driving licence: The negotiators of the European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on the introduction of the digital driving licence. This will be available on smartphones via an EU-wide digital wallet technology (EU e-Wallet). Following the entry into force of the new rules of the driving licence directive, the European Commission has 12 months to develop the necessary technical standards for national implementation, for which the Member States will have a further 4.5 years.

Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks

Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations

Selections of the CW 14 (31.03.2025-06.04.2025)

Council:

The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 13.04.2025 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 (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:

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.

ITRE Committee (Industry)

No meeting of the ITRE Committee is scheduled for this week.

The current timetables of the ITRE Committee (as of 26.03.2025) 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 18.02.2025) 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.

European Court of Justice

You can find the judicial calendar of the CJEU here.

The View from Brussels 11 June 2018

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