The ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council, meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 26 June, approved conclusions on EU digital diplomacy.
These stress the importance of advancing a human-centric approach to digital technologies based on human rights, particularly in the area of artificial intelligence (see EUROPE 13206/11). Particular attention should be paid to reducing the digital divide and protecting the vulnerable.
The conclusions also stress the importance of strengthening cooperation and providing concrete guidance on digital issues for work with EU partners and bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union and the WTO.
The document also states that digital partnerships with third countries should help build consensus around EU positions, in order to promote the key principles underpinning the EU regulatory framework.
Work with the G7 countries, meanwhile, should lead to a strengthening of the security of essential digital infrastructures in order to promote the free flow of data.
Coordinated positions on the Internet governance architecture should also be developed and multi-stakeholder forums should be supported, such as the Internet Governance Forum which, according to the Council, “should remain the main global platform for multistakeholder digital dialogue after 2025”.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/7qp (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)