The European Commission has postponed presenting its upcoming package on technological sovereignty until 3 June, according to the new provisional calendar of upcoming College meetings, published on Tuesday 19 May. The College is also due to hold a policy debate that day on the public procurement regulation, which could pave the way for introducing “Buy European” preference criteria in public procurement within strategic sectors.
The package – comprising a communication on European technological sovereignty, a strategic roadmap for digitalisation, a regulation on the development of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI), a Chips Act 2.0 (revision of the semiconductor regulation) and a strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in the energy sector – was originally expected on 27 May.
“As part of our upcoming tech sovereignty package, the Commission will focus on ensuring the maintenance, security and integrity of our open source digital infrastructures, which are facing increasing cybersecurity pressure due to the militarization of AI”, explained European Commission Executive Vice-President, Henna Virkkunen, on Tuesday during a European Parliament plenary debate dedicated to the EU’s cybersecurity and its level of preparedness regarding advanced AI systems (see EUROPE 13870/11).
In recent weeks, the US administration has warned the European Commission against adopting “protectionist measures” in its future package on tech sovereignty, arguing that such measures could harm the interests of US companies. The US ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, stated on social media: “The EU-US trade framework calls for the elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade. Protectionist measures in future European legislation on technological sovereignty risk weakening our partnership. The path forward is deregulation and collaboration on artificial intelligence and semiconductors”.
China has also expressed its “serious concern” about the revision of the EU Cybersecurity Act, which has yet to be formally adopted by the co-legislators and which, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, “seeks to shut Chinese companies out of projects on critical infrastructure”. “Should the revised Act discriminate against Chinese companies, China will take resolute measures to protect their lawful rights and interests”, said the Chinese spokesman in a Facebook post on 9 May. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)