The Tech Brief

European Council summit where EU leaders are set to sign off on commitments made to bolster the EU's digital clout in the world, with a new series of so-called Digital Compass benchmarks for 2030.  In the Commission's digital development plans, one initiative that stands out is the notion of establishing an EU wide digital identity.

The European Commission has concerns that certain aspects of the UK’s data protection regime may change in the future and negatively impact the safety of EU personal data when transferred to the country.

Presenting her future vision to MEPs earlier this week, von der Leyen outlined three areas that have become more pertinent in the context of the coronavirus, referring to forthcoming years as Europe’s ‘digital decade’ and proposing that 20% of the bloc’s recovery fund be spent on digital initiatives.

Europe's online marketplaces should not be controlled by a handful of dominant gatekeeper platforms, the EU's digital chief Margarethe Vestager has said, referring to her bid to reign in the market dominance of tech giants through the EU's forthcoming new competition tool.

EU leaders earlier this week reached a 'historic agreement' on the new multi-annual financial framework and the recovery and resilience fund.    However, in order to achieve these new agreements, substantial cuts have been made to the bloc's various funding programs, including in the digital fields.   This week, we crunch the numbers.

The EU-US Privacy Shield agreement that attempts to guarantee the secure transmission of EU data to the United States, has been declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, in a ruling that will provoke major disruption to transatlantic data flows. EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton examines the issue further to find out what could happen next.

This week, 150 prominent writers and academics including Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, Margaret Atwood, Francis Fukuyama, Salman Rushdie, and J.K Rowling, have written an open letter calling for free speech to be preserved online, amid an ongoing trend towards 'cancel culture.' Could such a narrative have any influence on the future direction of policy in this area?  EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton examines the issue further.

One question that has returned to the forefront of our minds this week in the tech domain is how does Europe position itself with regards to regulating artificial intelligence?  EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton draws on comments this week from the European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski and Vice-President for Digital Margrethe Vestager, while also lighting the German government’s position on the issue of Artificial Intelligence regulation in the EU.

The European Commission has presented its first review of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation.  This week, we take a look at some of the main findings, including how doubt has been cast over the UK’s future data adequacy. 

Palantir. MEPs have urged the European Commission to provide more details on the EU’s relationship with controversial US big data analytics firm Palantir, following a series of revelations detailing the involvement of the company in Europe.