Croatia will not have succeeded in unblocking the digital files during its six-month Presidency. This is what emerges from the agenda of the virtual meeting that the EU Telecommunications Ministers will hold on 5 June, the last under the Croatian Presidency, before handing over to the German Presidency on 1 July 2020.
According to the agenda, the Presidency will take stock of discussions on the draft Regulation on the confidentiality of electronic communications (see EUROPE 12408/18), on the basis of the progress report presented to national ambassadors on 3 June. It will also give an oral presentation on the progress made on the draft regulation on the centre of competence (see EUROPE 12437/4).
E-Privacy Progress Report
The progress report on the confidentiality of electronic communications (e-Privacy), still unofficial at this stage, recalls the efforts made by Croatia to take the discussions forward, in particular the inclusion of a new legal basis - that of legitimate interest - to allow the processing of metadata (Article 6b) and the use of storage and processing capacities of devices (Article 8) (see EUROPE 12442/8).
A provisional version of the document, as seen by EUROPE, points out that the first reactions of the Member States to this change have been “rather mixed”. While a number of States preferred later versions with a closed list of authorised processing operations, others were more positive, supporting the effort of alignment with the general data protection regulation. Some still wanted to go further in this alignment. The report also notes that some delegations called for more clarity with regard to information society services financed by advertising.
In this context and in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Croatian Presidency concludes that further work will be necessary on this proposal.
Stimulus plans integrating digital technology
In the absence of tangible results, Ministers will hold a discussion on digital priorities after the Covid-19 pandemic, including the deployment of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, connectivity and data. They will be invited to express their views on the main lessons learned from the crisis and the aspects of the digital strategy to be addressed as a matter of priority, Europe's strengths and weaknesses in terms of digital sovereignty and, finally, the importance of investment in new technologies.
Ministers will also discuss the draft conclusions prepared by the Croatian Presidency on the digital future of Europe, which will be adopted later by written procedure. They will take stock of the security of 5G networks, on the basis of the European Commission’s toolbox (see EUROPE 12414/7).
Also to be noted, under the ‘other business’ item, a presentation by the Commission on the development of Covid-19 tracing applications in the Member States and the presentation by Germany of its priorities for work during its six-month Presidency. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)