European Union

Comments land as the EU gears up to launch its next round of sanctions on Russia in the coming days

"The ideological mistakes of the last legislative period must be corrected", says European People's Party chief

Written by Clément Franzoso.

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is an important tool of participatory democracy in the European Union (EU), which gives Europeans a more active role in shaping EU policy. The initiative allows citizens to call on the European Commission to make new proposals for EU legislation if they gather at least one million signatures from at least seven EU Member States. Since its introduction under the Lisbon Treaty, the ECI has promoted political engagement, raised awareness of key issues and strengthened the EU’s democratic legitimacy. However, it faces significant challenges, such as difficulty gathering the required support, low public awareness, bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of binding outcomes.

To be registered, an initiative must meet a set of formal criteria assessed by the Commission. If it does, the Commission registers the initiative, and the organisers can then begin collecting signatures. It is important to note that the Commission is not obliged to act on registered ECIs, which ultimately limits the potential impact of the initiative.

While the ECI promotes cross-border collaboration and increases citizen participation, its potential is hindered by limitations such as the complex administrative process and lack of guaranteed legislative action. The Commission plays a decisive role in both the registration and follow-up stages of an ECI, but its strict interpretation of admissibility requirements has drawn criticism. Examples of successful initiatives include ‘Right2Water’, which advocates for the human right to water and sanitation, and ‘Stop Vivisection’, which calls for an end to animal testing in the EU.

While the ECI has helped raise awareness and foster political participation, its overall effectiveness remains constrained. Improvements in accessibility, awareness, follow-up actions and support are essential to unlock its full potential as a tool for active citizenship in the EU.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Assessing the potential and challenges of the European Citizens’ Initiative‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

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A paid traineeship will enhance your education and your vocational training and will provide you with an insight into the work of the European Parliament and the EU institutions. Find more info on the application criteria and process here.

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Lecornu must strike a fragile compromise, or see Macron dragged back into the fight

- Agenda / Croatie, Dans les Balkans

- Agenda / Croatie, Dans les Balkans

Belgium's prime minister has also railed against the decision

After a new strategic dialogue with the automotive sector, it remains unclear whether the European Commission will soften its 2035 ban on petrol and diesel cars

Joseph Kabila nie soutenir les rebelles du M23, qui ont occupé de grandes parties de l’est du pays riche en minéraux.

Far-right Patriots for Europe lawmaker Anna Bryłka claimed her group got the lead on the file thanks to the centre-right EPP, to block it

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Ambassadors were expected to give the Commission the green light to talk with the UK and Canada today

Written by Polona Car.

The Data Act aims to create value from data generated by connected products and services, by introducing data-sharing obligations. The principles enshrined in the Act have received general approval, but concerns have been expressed about the clarity of certain definitions, the sharing of commercially sensitive data and its regulatory complexity. Most provisions of the Data Act will apply from 12 September 2025.

Why it matters

Combining data with next-generation connectivity and emerging technologies can boost productivity, improve citizens’ health and wellbeing, and enhance public services. The EU’s data economy is projected to reach €630 billion this year, accounting for 4.7 % of the EU’s GDP. Forecasts suggest it will range between €743 billion and €908 billion by 2030. To unlock the full potential of data, the European Commission introduced the European strategy for data in 2020. This initiative aimed to create a single market for data, ensuring the EU’s competitiveness and data sovereignty. The strategy’s core components were the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Data Act.

The Data Act in short

While the Data Governance Act establishes a new data governance model, enabling voluntary data sharing across the EU, the Data Act clarifies the rules for creating value from data and introduces data-sharing obligations. The Data Act grants businesses and legitimate users of connected products and services the right to access the data – both personal and non-personal – generated through their use. This concerns, for example, data from smart home appliances or industrial data. Manufacturers must ensure the exercise of these rights and create a secure, timely and interoperable data access. This means that manufacturers do not have exclusive rights over data generated by connected machines and devices, which would encourage competition and innovation and improve service options for consumers. Access to data could also enable machine-learning technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to use such data for improving supply-chain management or industrial and agriculture production processes.

The data-sharing obligation gives users the right to transfer their data. For example, they can share it with a repair provider other than the device maker, which could create more competition in the after-sale market and extend the lifespan of machines and devices. However, the data-sharing obligation protects confidentiality, and manufacturers can stop sharing or refuse to share data if it risks exposing trade secrets.

The Data Act introduces new requirements on cloud service providers to ensure customers can easily switch between different providers. It also gives the public sector access to private companies’ data in exceptional cases, such as public emergencies, or to fulfil a specific task defined by law (e.g. statistics) or for specific research purposes. In addition, the Data Act includes safeguards against unlawful international transfers of non-personal data, and promotes the development of interoperability standards for data sharing and processing, using Common European data spaces. Most provisions of the Data Act will apply from September 2025. The obligation to design connected products in a way to make data directly available to users will apply from September 2026 and removal of cloud switching fees from January 2027.

Challenging implementation

Stakeholders generally welcomed the Data Act, but some major tech companies opposed it. One of the main concerns remains the complexity of digital regulation and offering clear definitions. Even though the Data Act preserves trade secrets and includes a safeguard to prevent development of competing products from data accessed from connected products, industry did not embrace sharing of data with enthusiasm. Companies can still challenge data-sharing refusals based on protection of trade secrets, which creates uncertainty. That is why startups, scaleups and SMEs, in particular, favour an approach adapted to the size of the company, which protects innovation while increasing access for users.

A burden or an opportunity for small companies?

Adapting to the new requirements could represent  costs and administrative burdens for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), although the Data Act aims to help SMEs access data held by large companies, encouraging data-driven innovation. To support this, the EU has developed model contractual terms (MCTs) for data sharing and standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for cloud computing. These voluntary tools will help smaller companies to negotiate and protect them from unfair contracts. MCTs and SCCs were adopted by the Commission expert group and the Commission ‘shall develop and recommend’ them ‘before 12 September 2025‘. They define the roles and responsibilities of data holders and users, compensation for data access and protection of trade secrets. As such, they provide legal clarity in complex data-sharing relations. SMEs, which often lack resources to draft complex contracts, can use these templates directly.

Clarity needed: Non-personal or personal, readily available, pre-processed?

The European Data Protection Board has raised concerns about the legal clarity of the draft MCTs. Its comments relate to the interplay between the Data Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Data Act complements the GDPR but does not override it, and when personal data is concerned the GDPR prevails. Therefore, clarity in defining who is the data holder and user and which data is considered personal and which non-personal, is decisive. Experts note that roles, rights and obligations remain unclear. Consequently, companies must carefully decide which law applies when users submit data requests, to ensure compliance. Moreover, according to other experts, the type of data that is within the scope of the law is also ambiguous. Definitions such as data being ‘readily available without disproportionate effort’ lack clarity, and the difference between data that is pre-processed (within the scope of the law) and processed (outside its scope) also seems vague.

Importance of enforcement

Under the Data Act, Member States need to appoint competent authorities to enforce the law, but only a few countries have done this so far. Data protection authorities retain competence for addressing breaches of personal data rules. Member States can appoint the same authority for the enforcement of two regulations simultaneously: for example, the GDPR and the Data Act regulations, the AI Act and Data Act, or a new, separate authority for the enforcement of the Data Act. Creating new authorities risks inconsistent enforcement, as different bodies interpret the rules differently, so a single authority would simplify compliance for companies. National interpretations and enforcement will ultimately shape the law’s impact. While this creates an additional uncertainty regarding its practical application, stakeholders note that it also offers an opportunity to shape the enforcement landscape.

What’s next?

As part of the digital package, the Commission has announced a new European Data Union Strategy. The strategy aims to simplify the EU’s digital regulatory framework and boost data sharing by leveraging data to enhance competitiveness. It remains to be seen to what extent the Data Act will be part of the simplification strategy. Several major companies have requested the Commission to revise the Data Act and postpone its application, as part of this strategy.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Data Act: Data sharing and competitiveness‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Eastern Sentry “is going to cover the entire eastern flank of the alliance, from the high north to the Mediterranean Sea,” NATO confirmed

EU ambassadors reconvene Tuesday to try to settle the 2035 target

A review of this week's top pieces

Les inscriptions gravées sur les boîtiers retrouvés avec le fusil comprenaient « Hé, fasciste ! Attrape ça ! ».

Climate change is deeply unjust. Not only are the physical impacts of climate change felt the most by poorer countries and those at the base of the economic pyramid within countries, but poorer countries and poorer segments within societies have also contributed the least to global warming and are least capable of investing in resilience and adaptation. Moreover, climate change is diminishing the development prospects of future generations, which have not contributed to the problem at all. The financial sector sits at the heart of the problem. It has financed ecoomic activities that have contributed to climate change, and it continues to do so. [...]. The next section discusses the shortcomings of the current global financial system and outline attempts at introducing sustainability elements into global financial governance. The following section assesses sustainable finance from the perspective of political, socioeconomic and intergenerational justice. The final section offers policy recommendations for developing a global governance framework for sustainable finance.

The international tax system forms a regime in global economic governance that governs the allocation of taxing rights for cross-border transactions between countries. The regime is based on domestic tax laws, bilateral or regional tax treaties, non-binding guidelines, and multilateral agreements. There is no global institution such as an international tax organisation, although discussions on a new UN tax convention are currently underway (Laudage Teles & von Haldenwang, 2023). The key challenges for global justice are harmful tax competition between countries, as well as tax avoidance and tax evasion by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Such practices are facilitated by the widespread use of tax expenditures, referring to preferential tax treatments that favour specific sectors, activities or groups of taxpayers. At an international scale, the use of tax expenditures strips countries of desperately needed public revenues and deepens inequalities between tax havens and countries with high-income tax rates.[...]. Th eGlobal Tax Expenditures Database (GTED) is the first to shed light on the scale of tax expenditures and tax expenditure reporting worldwide. We use GTED data in this chapter to present a descriptive analysis of tax exependitures worldwide.