OIREACHTAS DIGEST ON EUROPE - WEEK:23 7JUNETO13JUNE 2021 | REF:22-21
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Oireachtas Digest on Europe
Week : 23 7 June to 13 June 2021 | Ref: 22-21
Spotlight
Last Week
European Parliament:
Corporate tax transparency. European Parliament and Council negotiators have made an agreement
that sets in place rules that require multinationals a nd their subsidiaries with annual revenues of over EUR
750 million, and which are active in more than one country, to publish and make accessible the amount of
taxes they pay in each member state. The information will also need to be made available on the internet,
using a common template, and in a machine -readable format.
Funding for accession countries. On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators reached an
agreement on the instrument governing the 2021-2027 funding for countries on the path to EU
membership. It will be worth €14.2 billion.
Eurobarometer. A new Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Parliament and conducted
between March and April 2021 shows the increasingly felt impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on citizens’
personal lives and financial situation. Eight out of ten respondents know what the EU is doing to tackle the
pandemic’s consequences, while citizens put public health, the fight against poverty, suppor ting the
economy and jobs as well as tackling climate change at the top of their priorities for the European
Parliament.
European Commission:
COVID 19. On Monday, the European Commission proposed an update to the Council Recommendation on
the coordination of free movement restrictions in the EU, which were put in place in response to the COVID-
19 pandemic. As the epidemiological situation is improving and vaccination campaigns are speeding up all
over the EU, the Commission is proposing that Member States gradually ease travel measures, including
most importantly for the holders of the EU Digital COVID Certificate.
RRF. Romania has requested €14.3 billion in grants and €15 billion in loans under the RRF. Czechia has
requested a total of €7.1 billion in grants under the RRF
New Tax Observatory. The European Commission announced the launch of the European Tax
Observatory: a new research laboratory to assist in the EU's fight against tax abuse. The Observatory was
created under the initiative of the Europea n Parliament. Funded by the European Union, the Tax
Observatory will support EU policy-making through cutting-edge research, analysis and data-sharing.
State Aid. The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an €800 million Greek
scheme to support companies active in tourism affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Also the prolongation
and modification of an existing German scheme to support the production of electricity from new,
modernised and retrofitted cogeneration (‘CHP') plants (except coal and lignite-fired CHP).
EU Digital COVID Certificate. On Tuesday, the technical backbone of the EU Digital COVID Certificate:
went live. The go-live of the gateway completes the preparatory work at EU level.
Next Generation EU. Following the approval of the Own Resources Decision by all EU Member States, the
Commission announced its estimates to issue around €80 billion of long -term bonds in 2021, to be topped
up by tens of billions of euros of short-term EU-Bills to cover the remaining financing requirements.
European Semester Spring Package: The European Commission has presented the European Semester
Spring Package, which focuses on providing fiscal guidance to Member States as they continue the process
of gradually reopening their economies.
Schengen area. The European Commission has presented a new Strategy to make the largest free travel
area in the world – the Schengen area – stronger and more resilient.
Fishing. The EU and the United Kingdom have concluded negotiations on an agreement in principle setting
out catch limits for jointly managed fish stocks for 2021.
European Digital Identity The Commission has proposed a framework for a European Digital Identity
which will be available to all EU citizens, residents, and businesses in the EU.
1
Spotlight
Exchange of Personal Data (Shrems II). On Friday the Commission adopted two sets of standard
contractual clauses, one for use between controllers and processors and one for the transfer of personal
data to third countries. They reflect new requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
and take into account the Schrems II judgement of the Court of Justice, ensuring a high level of data
protection for citizens.
European Council and Council of the European Union:
The Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Transport), met on 3 an 4 June and discussed
and agreed on a wide range of topics.
Coming Week:
European Parliament: MEPs are in Strasbourg for a Plenary Session. Main topics for debate and
decisions are: EU Digital COVID certificate; EU reaction to Belarusian actions;Waiver of COVID-19 vaccines;
EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030; Debate on G7 and EU-US Summit; Cyberattacks in the EU; Phasing out
cages in animal farming; LUX Film Audience Award.
Commission: College meeting on Tuesday.
European Council and Council of the European Union:
Justice and Home Affairs Council, 7-8 June 2021
Environment Council, 10 June 2021
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy), 11 June 2021
G7 summit, Cornwall, 11-13 June 2021
European Parliament
Plenary Session Strasbourg– Coming Week Highlights
WEEK 23
President’s Diary. EP President David Sassoli will be in Strasbourg from Monday to Thursday for the
plenary session. On Tuesday, he will meet France’s State Secretary for European Affairs Clément Beaune,
the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Rik Daems, and EU High Representative
Josep Borrell. Still on Tuesday, President Sassoli will have a video meeting with Speaker of the US House
of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons Anthony Rota. The
President will have a remote meeting with Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev on Wednesday.
2
European Parliament
Plenary Session Strasbourg– Coming Week Highlights
Biodiversity/Protecting wildlife and humans. MEPs will debate and vote on the new 2030 EU
Biodiversity Strategy. They are set to call for 30% of the EU’s land and sea to be protected areas, for
binding targets on urban biodiversity such as green roofs on new buildings, and for urgent action to stop
the population decline of bees and other pollinators (debate Monday, vote Tuesday, results Wednesday)
EU Digital COVID Certificate. MEPs are set to give their final approval to the EU Digital COVID
Certificate, to facilitate travel within the EU during the pandemic and contribute to the economic
recovery. The certificate will prove that a holder has been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or
recently had a negative test (debate and vote Tuesday, results Wednesday). A press conference will take
place on Tuesday at 13:15, after the debate.
LUX Audience Film award. EP President Sassoli will reveal the LUX Europe an Audience Film Award
2021 winner during a ceremony in the chamber on Wednesday at noon. Representatives of the three
films shortlisted for the LUX Award will be present in Strasbourg.
EU reaction to Belarusian actions. After a Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk and Belarussian
journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested by Belarusian authorities,
MEPs will debate the EU’s response to this unprecedented incident with Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell
on Tuesday. A resolution will be put to the vote on Thursday
Waiver for COVID-19 vaccine patents. MEPs will vote on whether the EU should ask the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, following a debate during
the May session (vote Wednesday, results Thursday).
Rule of law. In a debate on Wednesday afternoon, MEPs are set to raise the issue of declining respect
for the rule of law in several member states, and insist on the urgent need to apply the new rule of law
conditionality rules to protect the EU budget. MEPs will vote on a resolution o n Thursday.
Special EU summit. Parliament will debate the conclusions of the special meeting of the European
Council that took place on 24 and 25 May covering issues such as the COVID-19 vaccination efforts
across Europe and foreign policy topics, including Mali and EU relations with the UK (Wednesday).
G7 and EU-US Summits. MEPs will discuss their expectations for the G7 and EU-US summits that will
tackle issues like COVID-19, climate change, Russia and Belarus (Wednesday).
National recovery plans. MEPs will discuss with Council and Commission whether the national recovery
plans submitted by member states so far effectively focus on the six agreed policy areas: the green
transition, digital transformation, competitiveness, so cial cohesion, institutional crisis-reaction and
preparedness, and the next generation including education and skills (debate Tuesday, vote Thursday).
Phasing out cages in animal farming. In response to the European citizens’ initiative “End the Cage
Age”, MEPs will debate and vote on a resolution asking to gradually end the use of cages in animal
farming, based on a species-by-species approach that would take into account the characteristics of
different animals (debate and vote Thursday).
Link to all Full Agenda Newsletter in PDF format here
European Commission
Coming Week Highlights
College meeting: Tuesday
3Portuguese Presidency of Council of the European Union
Programme for Inter-Parliamentary Events
Date Meeting EP Location
Committee Provisional
14 June High level Interparliamentary Conference on Migration and Asylum Brussels
in Europe
Remote
16 June Rural Development, Agriculture and Territorial Cohesion | Lisbon
Remot
20 -21 Conference on the role of Parliaments in deepening the EU Africa Lisbon
June relationship
22 June Interparliamentary Committee Meeting on the electoral law and the Remote
right to inquiry
Slovenian Presidency of Council of the European Union
Programme for Inter- Parliamentary Events
Date Meeting Location
19 July Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Video conference
Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) – Meeting of the
Chairpersons
8–9 Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Ljubljana/Brussels
September Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (IPC CFSP/CSDP)
tbc
28 Inter-parliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Video conference
September Governance in the European Union (SECG)
25 –26 Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol EP/Brussels
October
tbc
4Slovenian Presidency of Council of the European Union
Programme for Inter- Parliamentary Events
Date tbc
(tentative:
High-Level Conference on Migration and Asylum in Europe . EP/Brussels
November)
28 – 30 LXVI Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Ljubljana
November Parliaments of the European Union (LXVI COSAC)
tbc
Date tbc Inter-parliamentary Committee meeting on the Evaluation of Eurojust’s EP/Brussels
(tentative: activities
November)
2022 Ljubljana/National
30 – 31 Assembly
Meeting of the Secretaries-General of the European Union Parliaments
January
(EUSG)
tbc
2022 Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments (EUSC) Ljubljana
4 - 5 April
tbc
Format: physical meetings or VC (video conference) – a decision will be taken approximately three months
in advance
5Highlights of Week 22. 31 May to 6 June 2021
European Parliament Plenary and Committee
Highlights Week 22. 31 May to 6 June 2021
Corporate tax transparency
European Parliament and Council negotiators have made an agreement that sets in place rules that require
multinationals and their subsidiaries with annual revenues of over EUR 750 million, and which are active in
more than one country, to publish and make accessible the amount of taxes they pay in each member state.
The information will also need to be made available on the internet, using a common template, and in a
machine-readable format.
To facilitate the use of the information provided and increase transparency, the data provided will need to be
broken down into specific items, including the nature of the company’s activities, the number of full-time
employees, the amount of profit or loss before income tax, the amount of accumulated and paid income tax
and accumulated earnings.
Subsidiaries or branches falling below the revenue threshold will also be required to report if they are deemed
to exist only to help the company avoid the reporting requirements.
Some provisions allow room for manoeuvre for multinationals to be temporarily exempt from some reporting
requirements, but these are nonetheless strongly circumscribed.
Next steps
The text now needs to be endorsed by the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Legal Affairs
and the Parliament as a whole, as well as Council. The vote in plenary is expected after the summer recess.
Link to EP report here
Funding for accession countries
On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators reached an agreement on the instrument governing the
2021-2027 funding for countries on the path to EU membership. They agreed on the priorities, objectives and
the governance of the modernised Instrument for Pre -accession Assistance (IPA III) financing. It will be worth
14.2 billion euro and will support the implementation of EU-related reforms in the seven partner countries:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.
The upgraded pre-accession instrument strengthens conditionality related to democracy, human rights and
rule of law, envisaging the suspension of assistance in case of government backtracking in those areas.
Link to EP report here
Eurobarometer
A new Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Parliament and conducted between March and
April 2021 shows the increasingly felt impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on citizens’ personal lives and
financial situation. Eight out of ten respondents know what the EU is doing to tackle the pandemic’s
consequences, while citizens put public health, the fight against poverty, supporting the economy and jobs
as well as tackling climate change at the top of their priorities for the European Parliament. Overall, the
European Parliament’s spring Eurobarometer survey shows robust support for the European Union as well as
broad consensus that global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic are best tackled at EU level.
6At the end of the first quarter of 2021, thirty-one percent of Europeans have already seen their personal
financial situation affected negatively during the pandemic. A further 26% expect this still to happen. While
57% of respondents represent a clear majority on EU average, important national variations within the EU
must be taken into account.
Despite the financial impact of the pandemic, a majority of respondents (58%) believe that the health benefits
of restriction measures in their country outweigh the economic damage they might have caused. This opinion
is shared in most EU countries and suggests a change in attitude compared to the s econd half of 2020, when
a slight majority of citizens estimated the economic damage as more important, according to EP survey data
from 2020.
Link to EP Barometer here
European Commission
Highlights Week 22. 31 May to 6 June 2021
Coronavirus: Commission proposes update to coordinated travel measures ahead
of the summer
On Monday, the Commission proposed an update to the Council Recommendation on the coordination of free
movement restrictions in the EU, which were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the
epidemiological situation is improving and vaccination campaigns are speeding up all over the EU, the
Commission is proposing that Member States gradually ease tra vel measures, including most importantly for
the holders of the EU Digital COVID Certificate. The Commission has also proposed to update the common
criteria for risk areas and to introduce an ‘emergency brake' mechanism, to address the prevalence of new
variants of concern or interest. The proposal also includes specific provisions on children to ensure unity of
travelling families and a standard validity period for tests.
Key updates to the common approach to travel measures inside the EU, building on the colour-coded
map published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC): Link here
Recovery and Resilience Facility:
Romania. Romania has requested €14.3 billion in grants and €15 billion in loans under the RRF. The
Romanian plan is structured around six pillars: the green transition, digital transformation, smart growth,
social and territorial cohesion, health and resilience, and policies for the next generation. The plan includes
measures on sustainable transport, education, healthcare, building renovation and the digitalisation of public
administration. Projects in the plan cover the entire lifetime of the RRF until 2026. The plan proposes projects
in all seven European flagship areas. Projects in the plan cover the entire lifetime of the RRF until 2026.
Czechia. Czechia has requested a total of €7.1 billion in grants under the RRF. The Czech plan is built around
six pillars: digital transformation, green transformation and physical infrastructure, education and the labour
market, R&D and innovation, public administration and health. Projects in the plan cover the entire lifetime
of the RRF until 2026. The plan proposes projects in all seven European flagship areas.
New European Tax Observatory to support fight against tax abuse.
The European Commission announced the launch of the European Tax Observatory: a new research laboratory
to assist in the EU's fight against tax abuse. Paolo Gentiloni, Commissioner for Economy, hosted the launch
event today together with Paul Tang, Chair of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Tax Matters, and
Sven Giegold, Member of the European Parliament. The Observatory was created under the in itiative of the
7European Parliament.
Funded by the European Union, the Tax Observatory will support EU policy-making through cutting-edge
research, analysis and data-sharing. The Observatory will be fully independent in conducting its research,
objectively informing policymakers and suggesting initiatives that could help to better tackle tax evasion, tax
avoidance and aggressive tax planning.
Headed by Professor Gabriel Zucman, and based at the Paris School of Economics, the Tax Observatory will
be a source of new ideas for combating tax avoidance and an international reference for the study of taxation
in a globalised world.
Link to Commission statement here
State Aid
Greece: The Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an €800 million Greek scheme to support
companies active in tourism affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme is co-financed by the European
Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and will be open to companies of all sizes that experienced a turnover
decline of more than 30% in 2020, compared to 2019. The aid will take the form of direct grants, with a
maximum amount for each grant of either up to 5% of the beneficiary's annual turnover or €400,000 per
company, whichever the lowest.
Germany The Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, the prolongation and modification of an
existing German scheme to support the production of electricity from new, modernised and retrofitted highly
efficient cogeneration (‘CHP') plants (except coal and lignite -fired CHP). The scheme (‘Kraft-Wärme-
Kopplungsgesetz' – ‘KWKG 2020'), which is approved until 2026, will further promote energy efficiency, lead
to a better integration of cogenerated power into the German electricity market and lower CO2 emissions,
without unduly distorting competition.
EU Digital COVID Certificate: EU Gateway goes live with seven countries one
month ahead of deadline
On Tuesday, the technical backbone of the EU Digital COVID Certificate: went live. The go-live of the gateway
completes the preparatory work at EU level.
Since 10 May, 22 countries have already tested the gateway successfully. While the Regulation will be applied
from 1 July, all Member States, which have passed the technical tests and are ready to issue and verify
certificates, can now start using the system on a voluntary basis. Already seven Member States
– Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland – have decided to connect to the
gateway and started issuing first EU certificates, while certain countries have decided to launch the EU Digital
COVID Certificate only when all functions are deployed nationwide. Therefore, more countries will join in the
coming days and weeks. An updated overview is available on a dedicated webpage.
The political agreement of 20 May has to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.
The Regulation will enter into application on 1 July, with a phasing -in period of six weeks for the issuance of
certificates for those Member States that need additional time. In parallel, the Commission will continue to
provide technical and financial support to Member States to on-board the gateway.
Link to Commission statement here
NextGenerationEU: European Commission to issue around €80 billion in long-term
bonds as part of funding plan for 2021
Following the approval of the Own Resources Decision by all EU Member States, the Commission announced
its estimates to issue around €80 billion of long-term bonds in 2021, to be topped up by tens of billions of
euros of short-term EU-Bills to cover the remaining financing requirements. The exact amount of both EU -
Bonds and EU-Bills will depend on the precise funding needs, and th e Commission will revise today's
8assessment in the autumn. In this way, the Commission will be able to fund, over the second half of the year,
all planned grants and loans to Member States under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as well as cover
the needs of the EU policies that receive NextGenerationEU funding.
Link to Commission statement here
European Semester Spring Package:
The European Commission has presented the European Semester Spring Package, which focuses on providing
fiscal guidance to Member States as they continue the process of gradually reopening their economies. This
guidance aims to help Member States strengthen their economic recoveries, making the bes t possible use of
the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU. The
European Semester has been adapted this year, given the links to Member States' recovery and resilience
plans, laying out the investments and reforms that the RRF will finance.
On March 3 2021, the Commission's Communication on fiscal policy clarified that the decision to deactivate
the general escape clause should be taken based on an overall assessment of the state of the economy based
on quantitative criteria, with the level of economic activity in the EU compared to pre -crisis levels as the key
quantitative criterion. On the basis of the Commission's Spring 2021 Economic Forecast, the general escape
clause will continue to be applied in 2022 and is expected to be deactivated as of 2023.
The Commission has identified macroeconomic vulnerabilities related to imbalances and excessive imbalances
for the 12 Member States selected for in-depth reviews in the 2021 Alert Mechanism Report. Three Member
States continue to experience excessive imbalances (Cyprus, Greece, and Italy) and nine others are
experiencing imbalances (Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and
Sweden).
The implementation of reforms and investments under the RRF is expected to help address the challenges
identified over previous Semester cycles and play an important role in addressing existing macroeconomic
imbalances.
Link to Commission statement here
Towards a stronger and more resilient Schengen area
The European Commission has presented a new Strategy to make the largest free travel area in the world –
the Schengen area – stronger and more resilient. 36 years ago, 5 Member States agreed to remove border
controls between themselves. Today, the Schengen area without controls at internal borders is home to over
420 million people in 26 European States. The Schengen area is composed of all EU countries except Bulgaria,
Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland. It also includes four non-EU countries: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
and Liechtenstein.
The Strategy aims to:
Ensure effective management of the EU's external borders,
Reinforce the Schengen area internally
Improve preparedness and governance:
Enlarge the Schengen area:
Link to Commission statement here
EU and UK reach agreement in principle on fishing opportunities for the remainder
of 2021
The EU and the United Kingdom have concluded negotiations on an agreement in principle setting out catch
limits for jointly managed fish stocks for 2021.
The agreement closes the first ever annual consultations on fishing opportunities between the EU and the UK
9under the terms of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The successful conclusion of the
negotiations, which started in January, creates a strong basis for continued EU-UK cooperation in the area of
fisheries. The agreement in principle on the management of key shared stocks secures the fishing rights of
both the EU and the UK fleets in both the EU and the UK waters until the end of 2021, as foreseen under the
TCA. It establishes the total allowable catches (TAC) for 75 share d fish stocks for 2021, as well as for some
deep-sea stocks for 2021 and 2022. It also provides clarity on access limits for non -quota species. The signing
of the agreement, expected in the coming days, will also enable both parties to engage in quota exch anges.
Link to Commission statement here
Commission proposes a trusted and secure Digital Identity for all Europeans
The Commission has proposed a framework for a European Digital Identity which will be available to all EU
citizens, residents, and businesses in the EU. Citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic
documents from their European Digital Identity wallets with the click of a button on their phone. They will be
able to access online services with their national digital identification, which will be recognised throughout
Europe. Very large platforms will be required to accept the use of European Digital Iden tity wallets upon
request of the user, for example to prove their age. Use of the European Digital Identity wallet will always be
at the choice of the user.
Next Steps
In parallel to the legislative process, the Commission will work with Member States and the private sector on
technical aspects of the European Digital Identity. Through the Digital Europe Programme, the Commission
will support the implementation of the European Digital Identity framework, and many Member States have
foreseen projects for the implementation of the e-government solutions, including the European Digital
Identity in their national plans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Link to Commission statement here
New EU copyright rules
Monday 7 June marks the deadline for Member States to transpose the new EU copyright rules into national
law. The new Copyright Directive protects creativity in the digital age, bringing concrete benefits to citizens,
the creative sectors, the press, researchers, educators and cultural heritage institutions across the EU. At the
same time, the new Directive on television and radio programmes will make it easier for European
broadcasters to make certain programmes on their online services available across bo rders. Furthermore,
today, the Commission has published its guidance on Article 17 of the new Copyright Directive, which provides
for new rules on content-sharing platforms.
Link to Commission statement here
New tools for safe exchanges of personal data
On Friday the Commission adopted two sets of standard contractual clauses, one for use between controllers
and processors and one for the transfer of personal data to third countries. They reflect new requirements
under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and take into account the Schrems II judgement of the
Court of Justice, ensuring a high level of data protection for citizens. These new tools will offer more legal
predictability to European businesses and help, in particular, SMEs to ensure compliance with requirements
for safe data transfers, while allowing data to move freely across borders, without legal barriers.
The new standard contractual clauses take into account the joint opinion of the European Data Protection
Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor, feedback from stakeholders during a broad public
consultation and the opinion of Member States' representatives.
Link to Commission statement here
10European Council and Council of the European Union
Highlights Week 22. 31 May to 6 June 2021
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Transport), 3 - 4 June
Single European Sky 2+The Council agreed on its position (‘general approach’) on the proposals to review
the Single European Sky (SES) legislative framework. The SES initiative aims to reform the air navigation
services industry in order to make efficient the way in which European airspace is organised and managed.
Hired vehicles. The Council agreed on a general approach on revised rules for the use of hired vehicles for
the carriage of goods by road. The proposal seeks to establish a clear and uniform regulatory framework for
the hired vehicles market linked to the carriage of goods, and to ease the restrictions on using hired vehicles
in international transport.
Third country certificates in inland navigation The Council also agreed on a general approach on a
proposed amending directive on the transitional measures for the recognition of third countries’ certificates
in inland navigation. The amendment will ensure continuity and legal certaint y for individuals and economic
operators in the inland waterways sector.
Rail at the forefront of smart and sustainable mobility The Council approved conclusions on ‘Putting rail
at the forefront of smart and sustainable mobility’.
Sustainable and smart mobility The Council also adopted conclusions on the Commission’s strategy for
sustainable and smart mobility. Ministers then exchanged views on the way forward on this strategy, including
elements that are not detailed in the Council conclusions. The discussion, as well as the conclusions, will help
the Commission focus its future work in this area.
Data Governance Act. The Council assessed progress on a draft regulation on European data governance,
known as the Data Governance Act. The proposal aims to promote the availability of data for reuse by
increasing trust in data intermediaries and by strengthening various data-sharing mechanisms across the EU.
These measures are designed to give the EU a competitive advantage by allowing it to capitalise on the vast
quantities of data generated every day.
High common level of cybersecurity across the EU. Ministers also took stock of progress on a proposed
directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the EU (revised NIS directive or NIS2).
The objective of the NIS2 proposal is to further improve the resilience and incident response capacities of
public and private entities, competent authorities and the EU as a whole.
2030 Digital Compass The Council held a policy debate on the topic ‘2030 Digital Compass: How to chart
the way towards the EU’s digital future’ based on the Commission’s Digital Compass communica tion.
Link to Council report here
Sources: EU Parliament, Commission, and Council websites
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