France is pushing for Big Tech at the start of the EU presidency Europe News and current events from all continents DW
The first weekly meeting of the 27 EU Commissioners in 2022 is taking place in the French capital, Paris, despite the large number of COVID-19 cases in Europe and in France in particular.
French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled an ambitious plan for the presidency, hoping to raise a number of key issues over the next six months.
In a statement at the beginning, Macron said that “the French presidency must be a moment of truth for the regulation and responsibility of digital platforms, carbon prices at European borders for imported products, minimum wages and our relationship with Africa.”
Unusually for the presidency of the European Council, there will be national elections in these six months, and French voters will go to the polls in April.
Franco-German axis
France takes over the presidency of the Council from Slovenia, which followed Germany in the first half of 2021.
As Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes over after Germany’s 16-year leadership, German political priorities will be a test of new relations between Paris and Berlin.
“How Macron is generally received in Berlin is still an open question,” Jon Worth, a prominent EU blogger, told DW. “There are obvious tensions over energy policy – especially nuclear – but Scholz will be less fiscally inclined than the Merkel administration was. There is still a style clash between the more daring and confident Macron and the much underrated Scholz.”
The new German government wanted to openly show its commitment to relations with a number of high-ranking ministers and the Chancellor himself, who went straight to Paris in the days immediately after the oath.
Digital agenda
During the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, Macron wants to move two main pieces of EU legislation on digital security.
The European Commission made proposals for the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in December 2020, and Paris hopes that negotiations with the European Parliament and EU governments can be concluded while France holds the presidency.
The DSA would be a broad law to combat misinformation, obscure advertising practices, and illegal content online.
The DMA proposal focuses on reducing control over multinational technology companies online and preventing the abuse of their powerful positions.
“We can expect the French presidency to focus on strengthening action to combat illegal content online, safeguarding due diligence and promoting strong centralized enforcement of the future DSA regulation,” said Eliska Pirkova, European Policy Analyst at Access Digital Rights Group. Now, DW said.
Climate action
One of the other key concerns of the French Presidency is that the EU would try to impose a carbon tax.
France has long been one of the most vocal countries demanding additional taxes on products and services that emit large amounts of CO2.
In its proposals to achieve a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030, the European Commission has presented a plan known as the Carbon Boundary Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). For the first time in the world, it will affect high-emission industries such as steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizers and energy production.
EU observers such as economist Andre Sapir, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank, told DW: “Many EU Member States are clearly reluctant to continue for fear of retaliation by third countries affected by the carbon tax. in my opinion, it means that the EU must negotiate with third countries before introducing its carbon tax. “
Other issues the French presidency intends to address are the EU-wide minimum wage, how to tax global digital corporations and, potentially, adjust EU rules on government funding for certain industries to compete with global players such as China and the US.
Edited by Nicole Goebel