Highlights from the Past Week

CW 21 / Monday 23 to Friday 27 May: Green Week (no meetings);

 

GLOBAL MINIMUM TAX – POLAND BLOCKS AGREEMENT: Last week, EU finance ministers were supposed to have discussed the planned law on the introduction of a minimum tax of 15 per cent for multinational corporations, which was agreed upon internationally within the OECD. But late on Monday, the French Presidency decided to remove this item from the meeting’s agenda because Warsaw adamantly refuses to come on board.

Poland has thrown a spanner in the works by now demanding that the tax rate be legally tied to the introduction of a separately negotiated global levy on the world’s 100 biggest companies. High-ranking diplomats and Commission officials accuse Poland of holding the dossier hostage to force the European Commission to release funds that Brussels has blocked on rule-of-law grounds (see Politico).

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – EU COMMISSION DRAFTS STANDARDISATION PROPOSAL: On Friday, the Commission transferred a draft standardisation proposal on the future AI Act to the members of the Multi-Stakeholder Platform on ICT standardisation. This draft implementing the decision (PDF) and its annexes (PDF) are addressed to the European Committee for Standardisation, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

In it, the Commission calls for the development of standards that „enable the support of secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence“. It plans to ask the three bodies for a joint work programme and to deliver their final report in October 2024. However, this decision will only be finalised and formally sent out after the AI Act negotiations have been completed (see Contexte, paywall, FR).

 

BEREC – CONSULTATION ON WHOLESALE ROAMING GUIDELINES: The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications published the revised draft Wholesale Roaming Guidelines last week and launched a consultation on them. The deadline for submissions is 24 June. More information can be found on the BEREC website.

 

NETHERLANDS – INQUIRYING RT/SPUTNIK INTERNET BANNING: A coalition of Dutch organisations this week filed a petition asking the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to investigate the sanctions imposed by the Commission in March on Kremlin-backed broadcasters RT and Sputnik. The Freedom of Information Coalition said the measure was “hasty” and taken without judicial review. It said the decision was political and should have been taken by independent judges instead ( see Euractiv).

 

DISINFORMATION – AUSTRIA PRESENTS STRATEGY AGAINST DEEP FAKES: The Austrian government last week published its strategy to combat deep fakes, which it hopes will help combat disinformation and hate speech. The rapid digitalisation triggered by the pandemic has led to an increase in AI-based content, which Austrian authorities consider a key security risk. The government’s action plan, published this week, sets out four priority areas and aims to raise awareness among the population (see Euractiv).

 

CONSUMER PROTECTION I – NEW DIRECTIVE IN FORCE: On Saturday, the transition period of the Directive on the better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules expired. The rules were adopted in November 2019 and were to be transposed by Member States within two years. They update the tools available to address the challenges of digital markets. They aim to give both consumers and competent authorities more power to enforce their rights (see press release COM).

 

CONSUMER PROTECTION II – EU COMMISSION PREPARES EVALUATION ON “DIGITAL FAIRNESS”: On Tuesday, 17 May, the European Commission launched a call for contributions on the Unfair Commercial Practices, Consumer Rights and Unfair Contract Terms Directives to determine whether these texts “ensure a high level of protection in the digital environment”.

The call, which is open until 14 June, is intended to “determine whether further measures are needed to ensure the same level of fairness online and offline”. A public consultation is planned for the fourth quarter of 2022, with the final version due in the second quarter of 2024.

 

FRANCE – STATE COUNCIL APPROVES BANNING OF PORNOSITES: The implementing decree (FR) stemming from the Domestic Violence Act of July 2020, which sets out the steps that the regulator Arcom can take to obtain the blocking of porn sites that do not effectively control the age of their users, could thus end up before the highest Administrative Court, reports Next INpact (FR).

In addition, the websites concerned have requested the submission of a priority constitutional question and a preliminary ruling to the ECJ. Several warnings and ongoing court cases are based on this decree.

 

Relevant Publications, including from the EP Think Tank:

 

• A common charger for electronic devices: Revision of the Radio Equipment Directive (Briefing)
• EU secure connectivity programme: Building a multi-orbital satellite constellation (Briefing)
• Main results from the General Affairs Council, 23 May 2022
• Main results from the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 24 May 2022

 

Outlook for the Current Week

You can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament here. The meeting calendar for 2022 can be found here (PDF).

In the LIBE and JURI Committees, eIDAS is on the agenda, among other things. The LIBE Committee also plans on hearing feedback from the DSA trilogue negotiations.

An overview of the most important dates of the week of the Council can be found here or the meeting calendar here, and the focal points of the meetings of the next 14 days here.

 

Included among these dates are:

Summits and Ministerial Meetings:

• Special Meeting of the European Council, Monday, 30 May and Tuesday, 31 May 2022
• General Affairs Council, Thursday, 2 June 2022 – provisional agenda (FR)
• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (AI, Data Act, eIDAS, E-Privacy inter alia), Thursday, 2 June and Friday, 3 June 2022 – Agenda, A Items
• Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) (TTC inter alia), Friday, 3 June 2022 – Agenda

 

Preparatory Bodies:

• Working Party on Intellectual Property (Copyright), Wednesday, 1 June
• Working Party on Tax Questions (Indirect Taxation), Wednesday, 1 June;
• Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, Wednesday, 1 June;
• Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth (Industry), Thursday, 2 June;
• Audiovisual Working Party, Thursday 2 June;
• Working Party on Tax Questions (High Level), Thursday, 2 June;
• Working Party on Hybrid Threats, Thursday, 2 June;
• Working Party on Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (COPEN), Friday, 3 June;
• Coreper I (uniform chargers inter alia), Wednesday, 1 June;
• Coreper II (TTC inter alia), Wednesday, 1 June;

 

Information on the weekly Commission Meeting can be found in the preview (PDF) or (at short notice) in the current agenda. A topic of particular relevance is the Media Freedom Act (29 June).

The following topics are on the agenda for the coming week:

• Convergence Report 2022

You can find the judicial calendar of the ECJ here.

 

European Parliament Committees

CW 22 / Monday, 30 May to Thursday, 2 June: Political Group And Committee Meetings Week  (Brussels);

 

LIBE Committee (EP)

 

Current Meetings

• Monday, 30 May 2022, 15.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Tuesday, 31 May 2022, 10.00-11.00 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 2 June 2022, 15.45-16.45 (with ECON, Brussels)

 

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

…

30 May 2022, 16.15 – 16.30

6. Amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 as regards establishing a framework for a European Digital Identity

LIBE/9/06238

***I 2021/0136(COD) COM(2021)0281 – C9-0200/2021

 

Rapporteur for the opinion:
	Cristian Terheş (ECR)		PA – PE732.601v01-00
Responsible:
	ITRE*	Romana Jerković (S&D)

• Consideration of draft opinion
• Deadline for tabling amendments: 6 June 2022, 12.00…

30 May 2022, 16.50 – 17.05

8. Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC

LIBE/9/04995

***I 2020/0361(COD) COM(2020)0825 – C9-0418/2020

 

Rapporteur for the opinion:
	Patrick Breyer (Verts/ALE)		AD – PE692.898v07-00 AM – PE693.830v01-00
Responsible:
	IMCO*	Christel Schaldemose (S&D)	AM – PE695.150v01-00 AM – PE695.160v01-00 AM – PE695.161v01-00 AM – PE695.162v01-00 AM – PE695.163v01-00 AM – PE695.157v01-00 AM – PE695.158v01-00 AM – PE695.164v01-00 AM – PE695.159v01-00

• Reporting back to committee

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Wednesday, 15 June 2022, 9.00-12.30 and 14.30-18.30 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 16 June 2022, 9.00-12.30 and 14.30-17.30 (Brussels)
• Monday, 27 June 2022, 14.30-18.30 (Brussels)

JURI Committee (EP)

Current Meetings

• Thursday, 2 June 2022, 00-11.00 (Brussels)

 

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

 

…

7. Amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 as regards establishing a framework for a European Digital Identity

JURI/9/06239

***I 2021/0136(COD) COM(2021)0281 – C9-0200/2021

 

Rapporteur for the opinion:
	Pascal Arimont (PPE)		PA – PE731.697v01-00
Responsible:
	ITRE*	Romana Jerković (S&D)

• Consideration of draft opinion
• Deadline for tabling amendments: 10 June 2022, 12.00

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Monday, 13 June 2022 (Brussels)
• Tuesday, 14 June 2022 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 30 June 2022 (Brussels)

Dossiers Timetable (25 May 2022)

 

ITRE Committee (EP)

Current meetings

• Thursday, 2 June 2022, 00-12.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

…

5. Presentation by the Commission of the proposal for a regulation establishing the Union Secure Connectivity Programme for the period 2023-2027

…

8. Presentation by Mr Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Budget and Administration, of the proposal for a regulation on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity at the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Monday, 13 June 2022 (Brussels)
• Tuesday, 14 June 2022 (Brussels)

Dossiers Timetable (24 May 2022)

 

IMCO Committee (EP)

Current Meetings

• None

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Wednesday, 15 May 2022, 9.00-12.30 and 15.00-18.30 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 16 May 2022, 9.00-11.30 (Brussels)

Dossiers Timetable (May 2022)

 

CULT Committee (EP)

Current Meetings

• None

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Wednesday, 15 June 2022 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 16 June 2022 (Brussels)

 

Further Scheduled Parliamentary Calendar Dates

CW 23 / Monday, 6 to Thursday, 9 June: Plenary Sessions Week (Strasbourg);

CW 24 / Monday, 13 to Thursday, 16 June: Committee Meetings Week (Brussels);

CW 25 / Monday, 20 to Thursday, 23 June: Mini Plenary Session Week (Brussels).