Digital policy ranks low on Swedish EU presidency’s priority list

The upcoming Swedish EU Council presidency published its political priorities for the next six months on Wednesday (14 December). Here is what can be expected in terms of digital policy.

Sweden will take the helm of the EU Council for the first half of 2023, a strategic position to shape the EU’s legislative files and political agenda. As Brussels is producing more legislative files than ever before, which topics the presidency will prioritise is an essential factor in policymaking.

According to the Swedish presidency’s official programme, published on Wednesday, digital policies will not be on top of their minds, as themes like security, economic resilience and the energy crisis, all spurred by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, will continue to occupy centre stage.

“The EU needs to remain open to the rest of the world in order to become a technological leader and navigate in a more geopolitical world,” reads the document, reinstating the Swedish ideological position close to the principles of free trade, somewhat at odds with Europe’s digital sovereignty agenda.

While several digital topics are interpreted through the lenses of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the upcoming presidency kept an overwhelmingly vague language over what it intends to achieve at the legislative level.

Political advertising

For the Swedes, the geopolitical tensions with Russia have underscored the risk of disinformation and foreign interference in the electoral process. Therefore, they will work to ‘advance’ the negotiations on the regulation of the transparency and targeting of political advertising.

The Czech presidency recently managed to secure a general approach on the file, and the European Parliament is set to finalise its position at the beginning of next year, followed by trilogue negotiations among the Parliament, Council, and the Commission.

Trade

The priority in terms of trade relations will be the United States in the context of the Trade and Technology Council, for which the date of the next summit has not been set yet. Bilateral agreements and the joint initiative on eCommerce in the World Trade Organization are also mentioned.

Child sexual abuse material

The presidency’s programme indirectly mentioned the EU’s proposal to fight child sexual abuse material. The file is likely to be also prioritised because it is the initiative of Ylva Johansson, the Swedish Commissioner, in charge of home affairs.

Media

The presidency committed to ‘continue the work’ on the proposal intended to protect journalists from abusive litigations, the anti-SLAPP directive.

On the Media Freedom Act, the programme emphasises the importance of “independent and strong media.” This proposal is unpopular in Stockholm, where the national media sector is considered among the best in the world and does not need Brussels’ interference.

Data governance

The regulation for a European Health Data Space seems to be a top priority regarding more purely digital files. On the Data Act, the presidency intends to obtain a general approach and kick off trilogue negotiations with the Parliament.

“At the same time, the EU must not cut itself off from the rest of the world,” the document adds, an indirect reference to the provisions on international data transfers in the data law and the EU agency for cybersecurity ENISA’s controversial certification scheme on cybersecurity for cloud services.

Semiconductors

The Swedish will also inherit a fresh general approach to the European Chips Act, for which MEPs are expected to finalise their position in early 2023. On this topic, the upcoming presidency emphasises the research aspects to be developed as part of the Chips Joint Undertaking.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is another hot topic in the context of the West-Russia tensions. In this area, the priorities will be “to advance as far as possible” on the Cyber Resilience Act, a legislative proposal targeting connected devices, and conclude the interinstitutional negotiations on the cybersecurity measures for EU institutions and bodies.

Artificial Intelligence

Regarding the AI Act, the EU legislation to regulate Artificial Intelligence, the presidency expressed the intention to advance as far as possible with the negotiations with the Parliament. In practice, that progress will be limited as the trilogues will not start before March next year.

eGovernance

Similarly, the Swedes are expected to initiate the trilogues on the European electronic identification regulation, considered to have “the potential to lead to ground-breaking internal market reform.” The programme also refers to the Interoperable Europe Act, a recent initiative to favour cooperation among national administrations.

ePrivacy Regulation

The ePrivacy Regulation, a proposal to regulate the security and protection of privacy in electronic communications, has been stuck in a negotiating impasse for several years. In this regard, the Swedish merely committed to continuing the negotiations with the European Parliament.

Telecom

The presidency also aims to advance the work on the Connectivity Infrastructure Act, a legislative proposal to reduce the cost of expanding high-capacity networks that is due to be published in the coming days.

Short-term rental

The recently published regulation for short-term accommodation rentals was also mentioned albeit with little detail.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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