Welcome to the latest edition of Spotlight!

In this edition of Spotlight: OPP Update, F-gas, Microplastics, Digital Timeline, Rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse

Celebrations afoot 🎉

Last week, citizens of the EU celebrated Europe Day: the commemorative day in the EU’s calendar that marks the anniversary of the signing of the Schuman Declaration. The day offered citizens a chance to engage with events and activities hosted by the institutions that included “taking a selfie” at the Council and a quiz hosted by the European External Action Service (EEAS).

# Tell me what the EP’s AI Act Report is about 🤖

What greater way to celebrate Europe Day than to look at one of the key milestones of this mandate: the AI Act. With the adoption of the draft report in the IMCO/LIBE Joint Committee, MEPs took another step towards finalising the first set of comprehensive rules on artificial intelligence in the world. Since the introduction of the draft report, MEPs have engaged in a year-long process to carefully balance risk mitigation, transparency and the enablement of innovation in the field. 

The complex set of restrictions and exemptions are testament to the challenging nature of this balancing act, notably on issues related to biometric identification and the use of AI for public safety reasons. The definition of ‘high-risk areas’ was another critical issue in the balancing of the texts as MEPs sought to ensure the protection of citizens and democratic principles. The debates were also influenced by the surge of generative AI in the past year, epitomised by the rise of Chat GPT, Stable Diffusion and MidJourney — to name a few. This was accounted for in the report through the addition of risk-mitigating and transparency obligations for providers. 

This vote, however crucial, does not mark the end of the rocky journey of this landmark piece of legislation. MEPs will now have to vote on the mandate in Plenary, currently expected in mid-June. Once approved, the Parliament will enter inter-institutional negotiations with the Council, which adopted its position back in December 2022.

Agri-politics 🚜

The European Parliament’s majority political party met in Munich between 4-5 May for a political assembly. At an event characterised by political discussions and strategic planning, the EPP party discussed their political role in advocating for European farmers.

An adopted Resolution positions the party on a number of key issues for the agricultural sector. In a stark political move, EPP rejected two flagship proposals under the Green Deal: the Sustainable Use and Nature Restoration Regulations respectively. The party firmly stated that the current context was not the right time to support this proposed legislation, citing concerns around the economic viability of farming, food security and share of productive European farmland.

The group also affirmed that MEPs elected in the next elections would be responsible for discussing the next revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, the central budgetary mechanism for agriculture, which has also faced criticism for the focus on greening in its latest iteration. Manifestly written, the EPP’s focus in the new CAP will be a larger budget, young farmers and the vitality of rural areas.

The Resolution can be seen as a clear call to farmers: EPP is here for you. Farming concerns have been a central tenet of recent electoral politics on the continent  – look at the success of the BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement) in the Dutch provincial elections and at accusations from Spain’s environment minister that the Andalucían regional government were looking for electoral wins from its strawberry farm irrigation plans. With farmers in the East of Europe angered by the influx of grain imports from Ukraine, and more greening legislation around the corner, EPP is positioning itself as the farmer-friendly party of Europe.

Speaking of elections… 🗳️

The EPP also caught the headlines when it announced that it would favour the Spitzenkandidaten process for the 2024 European elections, a procedure that sees the outcome of the election determine the appointment of the Commission President. This is an unsurprising decision from the party which currently, and traditionally, heads the polls, as it would make its lead candidate a favourite for the role of Commission President.

Still speaking of elections… 

Two weeks ago, I posted a quiz on LinkedIn following Rene Repasi’s confession in EP IMCO that Didier Reynders was his favourite Commissioner. The quiz was simple: it asked which Commissioner it was and even saw the participation of Repasi’s S&D colleagues.

It got me thinking… which Commissioner would our readers wish to see return next year in the new mandate? Have your say on our Poll here. We’ll reveal the winner in two weeks! 

Proud to be Brussels 🏳️‍🌈

Brussels’ LGBTQIA+ community and allies will join together this Saturday for Brussels Pride Parade. From noon at the Pride Village at the Mont des Arts, a gathering including keynote speeches will take place ahead of the Parade which will commence at 2pm.

Also in the Spotlight 💡

This week in Spotlight, our energy & climate analyst delves into the world of F-gases, including a three-column comparison of the Commission's proposal and the Council's and Parliament's respective positions on the revised legislation.

Our environment expert, Audrey, brings you a follow-up to last edition’s microplastics factsheet with a timeline focusing on all the major dates and developments related to the forthcoming initiative on microplastic pollution. 

We know our timelines are well received in the bubble… Alba, our digital analyst, highlights all the major upcoming dates and developments for all the ongoing legislative proposals that will shape digital policy up until the end of 2023.

Toward the end of April, the EP LIBE Committee met to discuss Javier Zarzalejos’ (EPP, Spain) Draft Report on the rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. The discussions have boiled down to how the right to privacy and data protection needs to be balanced with ensuring the safety and protection of children. In our last item, we take a look at the state of play in the discussions with the EP’s lead committee.

Have a nice read!