News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News for CW 28 and CW 29 (06/07/2026 – 19/07/2026)
Social media: The European Commission has ruled that, whilst France is permitted to introduce a minimum age, the draft act in its current form is not compatible with EU law because it encroaches on the European Commission’s powers under the Digital Services Act.
AI: The European Commission has presented an action plan on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Among other things, this plan envisages the use of advanced AI models for cybersecurity.
Data protection: The European Data Protection Board has adopted guidelines on anonymisation and web scraping in the context of generative AI. Feedback may be submitted as part of the relevant consultation until 30/10/2026. In addition, the final version of the guidelines on the processing of personal data using blockchain technologies has been adopted.
Cybersecurity: The European Commission is taking France, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands to the CJEU because these countries have not yet fully transposed the NIS 2 Directive on the security of network and information systems into national law.
Chat control: The European Parliament has voted (with an amendment regarding end-to-end encrypted services) in favour of extending voluntary chat control. The matter is now back with the Council.
Digital euro: The European Parliament has voted in favour of introducing the digital euro. Negotiations with the Council of Ministers can therefore begin shortly.
Social media: The Special Committee on the Safety of Children on the Internet has presented its final report. Among other things, it recommends restricting access for children under the age of 13.
Wearables: The European Commission has adopted a delegated act exempting wearables such as smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness trackers and electronic toys from the requirements of the Battery Regulation regarding the replacement of device batteries.
Partnership: The EU and India held the third meeting of their Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Among other things, they agreed to step up cooperation in the fields of semiconductors, high-performance computing, quantum technology, artificial intelligence and 6G.
Rule of law: The European Commission has published the 2026 Rule of Law Report.
Transatlantic relations: A US judge has provisionally suspended sanctions against researchers in the field of disinformation and against regulatory authorities for online platforms (including former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton). The entry ban constitutes a violation of freedom of expression.
Selected publications from the EP Think Tank
- New European security strategy
- Spain’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play
- At a glance – Investment needs identified in the Draghi and Letta reports and their impact on the EU budget
- Economic Dialogue with the President of ECOFIN – 15/07/2026
- Towards new EU data retention rules
- Renewed debate on a future EU data retention framework
- The debate on AI and jobs
- Judicial cooperation in criminal matters
- Culture
- Audiovisual and media policy
- Plenary round-up – July 2026
- US critical minerals policy and its implications for the EU’s strategic autonomy (study)
- US critical minerals policy and its implications for the EU’s strategic autonomy (At a Glance)
- Budgetary Outlook for the European Union 2026
- Belgium’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest developments
- Role and impact of the latest generation of EU mini trade deals, such as clean trade and investment partnerships
- EU and US critical raw materials strategies: EU-US Explainer
- Towards a Quality Jobs Act
- The European Chips Act: Lessons learnt from three years of implementation
- Do Consumers Still Own What They Buy?
- Abandonware: the computer says “No” – Making consumer rights work in digital markets
Ongoing relevant consultations by the European Commission
- EU Centre for Critical Raw Materials (until 29/07/2026)
- Cybercrime – Negotiation of procedural rules and the draft protocol to the United Nations Convention on Cybercrime (until 29/07/2026)
- Schengen Information System – Amendment to the list of items that may be the subject of an alert (Delegated Regulation) (until 29/07/2026)
- EU rules on multimodal digital mobility services and standardised digital booking and ticketing services (until 31/07/2026)
- Biotechnology Act (until 05/08/2026)
- Hazardous substances – Exemption for lead and cadmium in certain electrical and electronic equipment (until 05/08/2026)
- Police cooperation – EU rules on the automated retrieval and exchange of biometric data with non-EU countries (until 07/08/2026)
- Rules on the screening of foreign direct investment – update of the list of projects and programmes of Union interest (until 13/08/2026)
- Digital Networks Act (until 30/08/2026)
- AI Continent – new legislation on cloud and AI development (until 30/08/2026)
- Chips Act 2 (by 30/08/2026)
- The Union’s Position for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (by 11/09/2026)
- Markets for crypto-assets: evaluation of the EU legal framework (until 30/09/2026)
- Horizon Europe – European Partnerships to be implemented as joint companies (until 16/10/2026)
Highlights from this week, CW 30 (20/07/2026 – 26/07/2026)
Council:
You can find the latest update on the Council’s work for the coming days up to 02/08/2026 here.
Summits and Ministerial Meetings:
Informal Ministerial Meeting on “Competitiveness” (Research and Innovation), 20/07/2026 – 21/07/2026, Agenda
Preparatory bodies:
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 20/07/2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (COPEN), 20/07/2026, Agenda
- COREPER I, 22/07/2026, Agenda
- COREPER II, 22/07/2026, Agenda
- JHA Information Exchange, 22/07/2026, Agenda
- “Youth Affairs” Working Party, 22/07/2026, Agenda
- Working Party on Company Law, 23/07/2026, Agenda
- JHA Counsellors, 23/07/2026, Agenda
- “Terrorism” Working Party (TWP), 24/07/2026, Agenda
- “Competitiveness and Growth” Working Party (Industry), 24/07/2026, 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 going to press. You may be able to find it at short notice on the Commission’s website.
Parliament:
Plenary
There are no plenary sessions of the European Parliament taking place this week.
You can find the current schedule for this week at the European Parliament here. The calendar of sessions for 2026 is available here.
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
The LIBE Committee has no meeting scheduled for this week.
You can find the LIBE Committee’s timetables here.
JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)
No meeting of the JURI Committee is scheduled for this week.
The JURI Committee’s timetable can be found here.
No meeting of the ITRE Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables (as at 14/07/2026) for the ITRE Committee can be found here.
IMCO Committee (Single Market)
No meeting of the IMCO Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables (as at 15/07/2026) for the IMCO Committee can be found here.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
No meeting of the CULT Committee is scheduled for this week.
The current timetables (as at 16/07/2026) for the CULT Committee can be found here.
Outlook:
You’ll find an overview of the forthcoming session weeks here. You’ll find the provisional agenda for the upcoming plenary session here.
European Court of Justice
You can find the judicial calendar for CJEU here.
