The View from Brussels #41-2025

News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week

News CW 43 (20-26.10.025)

Submarine Cables: The European Commission has announced its intention to promote the resilience of submarine cable infrastructure and the establishment of regional cable hubs with a total of €20 million under the Digital Europe Programme. In addition, the first report on the security and resilience of EU Submarine Cable Infrastructures was presented by the informal Expert Group on Submarine Cable Infrastructure.

Media literacy: As part of the Creative Europe programme, the European Commission is making €3 million available for innovative cross-border projects to promote media literacy, which are aiming to build societal resilience against disinformation and information manipulation. The call for proposals is open until 11 March 2026.

Chips Act: The European Commission’s recently published work programme for 2026 indicates that the revision of the Chips Act will be moved up to the first quarter.

Rare earths: The work programme also states that, in view of Chinese export controls concerning rare earth magnets (as well as the raw materials needed to manufacture them), a centre for critical raw materials is to be set up to monitor, jointly purchase and stockpile important minerals. As Commission spokesperson Olof Gill confirmed, several meetings with China on the topic of rare earths and magnets will take place this week as part of the Export Control Dialogue.

Satellites: Aerospace companies Airbus, Leonardo and Thales have announced plans to combine their satellite and space systems manufacturing. The aim is to create a leading European player in space.

AI: Several members of a committee working on standards for high-risk AI systems have spoken out against accelerating the standardisation process. They fear that the core principle of consensus could be undermined.

Cloud: With the “Cloud Sovereignty Framework”, the EU Commission has established new criteria for sovereign cloud services that are relevant for procurement procedures.

Social media: Politico reports on the three major lines of conflict in the debate about a possible social media ban for children: comprehensive ban vs. parental consent, EU-wide vs. national regulation, and the right age.

Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks

Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations

EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – implementing EU funding with Member States and regions (until 29.10.2025)
European framework for science diplomacy (until 03.11.2025)
Artificial intelligence and digitalisation for energy – a roadmap (until 05.11.2025)
EU Space Act – new rules for safe, resilient and sustainable space activities (until 07.11.2025)
EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for civil protection, preparedness and response to crises (until 07.11.2025)
EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for competitiveness (until 12.11.2025)
Cybersecurity – terms & conditions for delaying the notification of incidents (delegated act) (until 13.11.2025)
Energy – Heating and Cooling Strategy (until 20.11.2025)
EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for cross-border education, training and solidarity, young people, media, culture, and creative sectors, values, and civil society (until 25.11.2025)
EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for external action (until 28.11.2025)
Chips Act 2 (until 28.11.2025)
Standardisation Regulation – revision (until 17.12.2025)
Geoblocking Regulation – evaluation (until 29.12.2025)
European Research Area Act (until 05.01.2026)
Law enforcement cooperation – new Europol regulation (proposal) (until01.2026)

Selections of the CW 44 (27.10-02.11.2025)

Council:

The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 09.11.2025 can be found here.

Summit and Ministerial Meetings:

· This week, there are no Council meetings of relevance to the Internet industry.

Preparatory Bodies:

Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth – Internal Market, 10.2025, Agenda
Working Party on Research, 10.2025, Agenda
Ad Hoc Working Party On The Connecting Europe Facility (Ahwp Cef)‎, 10.2025, Agenda
Committee on Cultural Affairs, 10.2025, Agenda
Working Party on e-Justice, 10.2025, Agenda
Ad Hoc WP on Defense Industry, 10.2025
FINANCIAL SERVICES ATTACHES, 10.2025, Agenda
COREPER II, 10.2025, Agenda
Security Committee, 10.2025, Agenda
COREPER I, 10.2025, Agenda
Ad Hoc WP on prep. Council concl. on enhanc. prepared., resp. capability & resilience future crisis, 10.2025, Agenda
JHA COUNSELLORS, 10.2025, Agenda
Ad Hoc Working Party On The Multiannual Financial Framework (European Competitiveness Fund), 10.2025, Agenda
Group on Competitiveness and Growth – Tourism, 10.2025, Agenda
Working Party on Civil Protection (PROVIC), 10.2025, Agenda
Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Banking Union), 10.2025, Agenda
COREPER I, 10.2025, Agenda

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

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 and the calendar of the plenary sittings for 2026 is available here.