Over the next 6 months, the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union intends to work towards making sovereignty the priority of European digital policy. During her speech to the Committee on Legal Affairs on Tuesday 7 July, Justice and Consumer Affairs Minister Christine Lambrecht also emphasised respect for fundamental values.
The importance of data
The work programme of the new Presidency puts a strong emphasis on data policy. In its February strategy, the European Commission committed itself to presenting a generic legislative framework for the governance of the common European data space, or even a data law.
“Covid-19 has once again highlighted the importance of a sovereign, secure and reliable European data infrastructure. We therefore want to discuss initiatives such as GAIA-X, but also the effects of the crises on network capacities and broadband targets in depth among Member States”, the work programme says.
Gaia-X refers to a Franco-German project for a common infrastructure for storing and sharing company data (see EUROPE 12499/15).
The German paper also launches the debate on the appropriate use of quality datasets for digital services.
The Digital Services Act in the spotlight
The work programme, on the other hand, is rather laconic on the issue of platforms, even though this will be the major challenge for the next 6 months, with the preparation by the Commission of the Digital Services Act.
“The single market should be strengthened by better liability and safety rules for the platform economy and digital services in the area of consumer protection”, the paper only notes.
In front of MEPs, the German Minister reminded them that the fight against hatred has been her priority since the beginning of her mandate.
In Germany, the law on improving the enforcement of the NetzDG law regulating social networks, which has been in force since 2018, imposes heavy financial penalties on social networks that do not remove reported illegal content.
“Freedom must continue to exist on the Internet. However, hate speech must be suppressed”, Christine Lambrecht replied to the German Gunnar Beck (Identity and Democracy), saying that threats of rape or death should also be excluded. Gunnar Beck asked for assurances that “the German federal government would not support any proposal at European level that would lead to Internet surveillance and that would go against the opinion of the French Constitutional Council regarding the Avia law”.
Calendar
In terms of events, the German Presidency is planning an informal meeting of EU Telecommunications Ministers in Baden-Baden on 14 and 15 October. It is also planning a formal EU Council meeting on 7 December, at which it hopes to reach political agreement in principle (‘general approach’) on the draft Regulation on electronic communications privacy (‘e-Privacy’) (see EUROPE 12522/10) and on the governance framework for data spaces. On this occasion, Germany will submit conclusions to Ministers on minimum security standards for IT products and, potentially, on the joint cybersecurity unit.
At the Justice Council on 8 and 9 October, the German Presidency will also submit conclusions on the digitalisation of justice. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)