The Tech Brief

This Spring, the European Central Bank will decide whether or not to move ahead with preparatory work to launch a digital euro, a project that could have far-reaching implications for the very foundations of the financial system.

Central bankers were given a wake up call in 2019, following Facebook’s announcement of its intentions to develop its own digital currency, which was called ‘Libra’ and now ‘Diem’ in Summer 2019, and since then discussions have been taking place at the ECB with regards to the notion of the ECB developing its own digital currency.

A range of private media outlets went off the air in Poland on Wednesday running blank pages and slogans such as “this used to be your favourite programme,” in protest against a proposed media advertising tax they say threatens journalistic independence and diversity.

The blackout came a day after many publishing groups objected to the planned tax in an open letter to authorities and political leaders.

The development of next generation robotics technologies, has been cited as an important part of the EU’s future economic growth and recovery. But there are also perilous pitfalls at play, should the bloc overlook various policy challenges, in terms of high-risk robotics, data protection, and consumer rights. This week will delve into the future of EU robotics, to give you an exclusive insight into what’s in store.

The EU is deploying drone technology to surveil its external borders. How ethical are practices such as these? This week Samuel Stolton speaks to an MEP who has taken the lead in making this an important issue for the EU to examine.

In this week’s edition, we take a deep dive into the European Union’s next moves in the Artificial Intelligence space by drawing on recent comments from political officials and catching up with policy experts in the field, as the European Commission readied new rules on AI to be presented in March.

Nations across the bloc only have until early June this year to transpose the EU’s Copyright Directive, adopted in 2019.

This week, we hone in on one of the countries that played host to a groundswell of opposition to the plans: Germany.

Online platform giants will be forced to abide by a broad range of obligations as part of ambitious new plans laid out by the European Commission in its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) on Tuesday.

This week, EURACTIV takes a deeper dive to see what’s in store as part of the plans.

As we edge closer to December 31st, concerns are starting to amplify over how data transfers will take place between the EU and the UK after Brexit.

This week, EURACTIV speaks to Ben Rapp, an expert on EU-UK data flows who heads the UK’s largest data privacy consultancy, Securys, to get an insight into what could be in store for the future of EU-UK digital trade.

After rumors had been circulating in Brussels earlier this week, the Commission confirmed that the publication of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act would be pushed back to December 15th. This week, we have all the latest on the plans, including the Commission’s direction of travel with regards to the functionality of the DMA’s New Competition Tool.

This week, the European Commission has unveiled its highly-anticipated Data Governance Act. In our latest transmission, we take a closer look at the plans.