Italian MEP Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe) briefed members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Monday 22 May on progress in the interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on transparency and targeting of political advertising.
A number of issues remain to be resolved, although the rapporteur believes that an agreement could be reached at the next trilogue, which will take place on 5 June. In particular, the question of specific requirements related to the processing of personal data will have to be decided. “I don’t think there is any particular openness on the part of the EU Council, if any at all”, Mr Gozi said.
On this issue, Parliament would have liked to introduce the legal concept of ‘political advertising services’ in Article 12, while the Council of the EU would like to stick to the wording of the original Commission proposal. The Commission has proposed three alternative options, all related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13185/5).
On the other hand, agreements have been reached on several other important issues, such as reporting political advertisements. Larger platforms would have to react to such content “without undue delay” and would be subject to stricter rules than smaller entities. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)