On Friday 6 December, representatives of the Member States failed to reach an agreement on the draft partial general approach on the Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) (see EUROPE 13539/8).
However, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU has decided to place the issue on the agenda of the EU Home Affairs Ministers on 12 December in the hope of reaching a further agreement and of hearing all the ministers in detail on this issue in public session, with the overall aim of stepping up the fight against sexual crimes against children.
During this discussion, which lasted around 30 minutes, some of the Member States opposed to the text being tabled took to the floor to reiterate their position; four countries openly stated their refusal to subscribe to the Hungarian proposal and four expressed their intention to abstain.
A blocking minority was formed by Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland and Slovenia.
The balance of power within the Member States has not changed since October. The Netherlands and Germany, who have expressed their views, believe that the current text does not yet provide sufficient protection for privacy and the confidentiality of private communications.
The Netherlands is also rejecting the use of ‘client-side’ analysis (technology that reveals targeted content by analysing the device, without weakening encryption or providing decryption keys).
The Hungarian Presidency “is determined to continue its efforts to protect children from the horrific realities of abuse in the digital age. The figures are a stark reminder of the urgency of the situation: 36 million reports of material abuse and more than 100 million files were reported last year”, commented a spokeswoman. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)