The Czech Minister for Digitisation, Ivan Bartoš, presented the priorities for the digital sector for the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU to 31 December, speaking to the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy on Wednesday 13 July.
The main focus will be on cybersecurity and, while the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached agreement on 12 May on the revised ‘NIS2’ directive (see EUROPE 12977/21), which is intended to ensure a common high level of cybersecurity across the EU, the Czech Presidency will concentrate on the cybersecurity of the European institutions.
The Czech Presidency would like to reach a common position in the EU Council “before the end of November” on this issue, which Mr Bartoš described as “urgent”.
In addition, attention will also be paid to the regulation on artificial intelligence. While the European Parliament continues its work on this dossier (see EUROPE 12991/35), the Presidency aims to finalise its common position “before the end of the term of office”.
By the same deadline, the minister said, a political agreement (‘general approach’) is also expected on the future European Digital Identity Wallet (see EUROPE 12969/13).
“This is a big step forward for European citizens; we want to continue discussions on the most complicated issues”, Bartoš added, conceding that it was a “very technical dossier”.
The competent minister also expressed his wish to conclude the interinstitutional negotiations on the Path to the Digital Decade “as soon as possible”. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU had a meeting on Wednesday 13 July to conduct a second round of negotiations on the subject (see EUROPE 12990/6).
The Data Act legislation will also be on the agenda of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. “It is a building block complementing the Data Governance Act (DGA) (see EUROPE 12953/32) and the Digital Marketplace Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 12986/3)”. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)