Yesterday, the European Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen. She will lead the EU Commission as President for another five years – and during this time will likely remain the most powerful woman in the world.
Large portions of her own party, the European People’s Party (EVP), voted for her. But many Social Democrats, Liberals, and Greens did too. At least that’s what the legislators claim now, as the vote was secret. There was no other candidate: In the current EU system, heads of government propose a candidate. The Parliament can only say yes or no.
To secure the votes of the center-right factions, von der Leyen negotiated intensively in the weeks leading up to the election. The EVP, Social Democrats, and Liberals had enough votes mathematically – but it was clear that some legislators from these factions would defect. The Social Democrats had also conditioned their support on the fact that von der Leyen would not negotiate with the rightist European Conservatives and Reformists. That left only the Greens as additional supporters.
At the end of these negotiations, yesterday the political guidelines of the Commission for the next five years were established. They are quite a colorful mix, with a foundation of EVP ideas and a garnish of proposals from other factions. Some digital bullet points include: protecting children, security, defense, data, and AI.
Once again, no word on chat control
“I believe that protecting the mental health of our children and adolescents, especially online, is one of our greatest challenges of this decade,” states the guidelines. This somewhat unexpected focus had previously appeared in the demand catalog that the Social Democrats drafted for their negotiations with von der Leyen.
However, they had also clearly stated that end-to-end encryption should be strengthened. Perhaps that’s also why there is no mention of the chat control proposal in the political guidelines, which the Commission had pushed forward until the end of the last term.
The face behind the chat control was previously the now former EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson. She energetically supported the proposal and even accused her critics of spreading misinformation.
She will not be part of the next Commission: Sweden has nominated Jessika Roswall from the ruling conservative Moderate Party as the new EU Commissioner in her place. She is currently the Minister for EU Affairs. It is still unclear which position she will assume in the Commission.
Still protecting children
It is equally unclear what the personnel reshuffling or the absence of the chat control mention in the guidelines will mean. The negotiation music is currently playing among the member states in the Council, where a blocking minority continues to obstruct an agreement on chat control.
A newly configured EU Commission could advocate for less surveillance in the final trilogue negotiations – or even withdraw the proposal entirely. However, it is much more likely that a new Commissioner for Home Affairs will continue to push for chat control.
So what will von der Leyen do instead in the area of child protection? She wants to initiate a Europe-wide investigation into how social media affects the mental health of children and adolescents. Furthermore, she intends to tackle addictive designs of online services – such as endless scrolling, autoplay, and constant push notifications. There will also be an “action plan against cyberbullying.”
Booking train tickets more easily across Europe
Another plan is borrowed from the Greens: People should be able to book tickets for train journeys across European borders on a platform, even when traveling with multiple companies. Von der Leyen is already announcing a specific regulation for this purpose, a type of EU law where member states can implement things with less difficulty.
With these unified services, individuals will also have the right to refunds if any of these trains are delayed. (A small note: Openly available data on delays would also be very useful.) Such booking services are already common for air travel and make it easier to book multiple connected trips. Now, travel by train, which is more environmentally friendly, is to be made more attractive as well.
Sharing data more easily
Ursula von der Leyen considers artificial intelligence very important. To better develop AI, Europe, in her opinion, must “unlock the untapped potential of data.” For this, she plans a strategy for a European Data Union: a “simplified, clear, and coherent legal framework” in which companies and administrations can “seamlessly and on a large scale” exchange data, while maintaining high data protection standards, of course.
The two major digital laws from her first term, concerning digital services and digital markets, are to be enforced more intensively in the next five years. Regarding e-commerce platforms, von der Leyen still sees a need for action. Here, she calls for “effective customs, tax, and security controls”: a reference to the various conflicts between the EU and the Chinese platforms Shein and Temu in recent months.
More of everything for security authorities
Otherwise, the guidelines focus heavily on security – both internal and external. The staff of Europol is to be doubled, and that of Frontex tripled. “Every death in the Mediterranean is one too many,” so Frontex needs more surveillance capabilities, the guidelines state cynically. Moreover, police authorities should receive “appropriate modern instruments for lawful access to digital data.” Of course, without touching fundamental rights.
However, these are election promises. How much the authorities will actually expand will be determined in the next negotiations on the EU budget.
In the defense sector, the EU is to cooperate with NATO on cybersecurity and establish a joint cyber defense.