Committee on Legal Affairs Ordinary Meeting
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JURI European Parliament
Follow its sittingsNiamh Smyth
It is against this backdrop that enhancing competitiveness is one of the priorities of the Irish presidency.
In that context, we see EU Inc as one practical initiative capable of helping EU firms grow and compete across the Union. A central objective to the Irish presidency is therefore to advance work on EU Inc to help future EU Inc companies establish, to scale, and to operate seamlessly across the Union. The concept of the EU Inc places a focus on helping companies grow and benefit from a simpler, harmonised set of rules. The EU Inc concept and its ambitions are wholly in line with Ireland's views on the need to boost EU competitiveness. A company seeking to operate across the European Union should not be required to navigate 27 different legal systems, 27 different administrative approaches, or 27 different set of corporate requirements.
A setup founded in Dublin, Berlin, or Copenhagen should be able to grow throughout the Union under a common European corporate framework. Today a business may have access to a market of 450 million consumers, but too often it is still experiencing Europe as 27 separate jurisdictions.
The EU Inc proposal seeks to address this issue. We are all aware of the motivation behind the EU Inc proposal, to provide the option for companies to set up, operate, and scale up more easily across the single market and benefit from a single set of harmonized rules, therefore avoiding fragmentation that currently exists. A streamlined, transparent, and business-friendly company law regime can be a key driver of the EU competitiveness. A key strength of the EU Inc proposal is its fully digital and online nature. The ability to establish, manage, and administer EU Inc entirely through digital procedures would significantly reduce cost, administrative burdens, and delays for entrepreneurs and investors operating across borders.
The digital-first approach has the potential to make Europe a more attractive place to found and grow innovative businesses, while maintaining appropriate standards of transparency and legal certainty. We are aware of the high expectations for this proposal and are very mindful of the European leaders' call at the European Council on the 19th of March 2026 for the co-legislators to reach agreement by the end of 2026.
Since assuming the EU presidency, we have sought to advance discussions on the EU Inc proposal. Since early July, four working party, sorry, four working party meetings have been held, a first presidency compromise text was discussed, and a second compromise text is expected to issue in the coming days for technical discussions. Ministers will be briefed on progress at the COMPET Council later this month. There is broad support among member states for the overall objectives of the proposals, and negotiations at a technical level have been constructive. That said, there are a number of challenging issues to be resolved.
The weeks ahead, therefore, will be a crucial period for this proposal. Ireland is working to reach an agreed position at Council with a view to entering into trilogue negotiations in November. While challenges remain, we believe the proposal presents an important opportunity to strengthen the single market, support European competitiveness, and make Europe a more attractive place to start, grow, and invest in business. We look forward to working constructively with the European Parliament to progress the EU Inc file. Another important priority for our presidency is the area of copyright.
To this end, we are working towards a balanced copyright framework that rewards creativity, supports innovation and cultural diversity, and remains fit for the digital age. The European Commission is currently reviewing existing copyright legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose. I look forward to the results of the review of the copyright in the digital single market directive and the outcome of the call for evidence in four key areas: copyright and AI, the EU response to the RAAP judgment, research and copyright, and of course online piracy, particularly of live events. The presidency will support this process by discussing emerging issues with the member states. I would like to acknowledge the European Parliament's strong engagement on copyright issues, including the Voss report focusing on the area of AI.
I'm confident that our joint efforts we can continue to strengthen the EU copyright framework in a forward-looking and effective manner. Additionally, supplementary protection certificates constitute a key intellectual property issue for our presidency.
The SPCs play an important role in supporting innovation in the pharmaceutical and plant protection sectors by helping to offset regulatory delays in bringing products to market. Discussions in the Council's Intellectual Property Working Party have continued constructively, particularly in relation to the legal basis for the proposed unitary SPC system. While good progress has been made, certain institutional aspects of the package require further consideration and remain under discussion. These include the practical operation of the proposed examination framework, governance arrangements, and ensuring that the new system delivers efficiency, legal certainty, and high-quality decision-making. Continued engagement with Member States, the Commission, and other stakeholders will be necessary to build consensus on all of these issues.
The Irish presidency remains committed to facilitating constructive dialogue with a view to achieving a balanced and workable outcome for all stakeholders. We will continue to work closely with Member States, with the European Commission, and the European Parliament to advance discussions wherever possible and maintain momentum on those elements of the package that are sufficiently mature.
Chair, honorable members, as I stated earlier, the Irish Presidency has approached its responsibilities in the spirit of our motto, Ní neart go cur le chéile, strength through unity. We believe that meaningful progress is achieved when we all work together in the spirit of partnership, respect and shared purpose. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today. This Presidency looks forward to continuing its constructive engagement with Parliament as we work together to deliver outcomes that benefit and protect citizens throughout the European Union. I now look forward to hearing your views and responding to your questions.
Go raibh maith agat.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, Madam Minister. I would like to open the floor by giving the floor immediately to the coordinators or their representatives and starting with the coordinator of EPP, Mr. Axel Voss. One and a half minutes, so it's a bit restrictive this time. And for the colleagues who are attending for the first time the meeting, one and a half minutes is about 90 seconds. Please, Axel.
Axel Voss
This is not very generous. So, thank you, I will speak in German.
Vielen Dank fürs Kommen und auch für die Ideen und Vorschläge. Gerade was KI betrifft, ist das ein wesentlicher Punkt, den wir gerade auf der europäischen Ebene extrem aus meiner Sicht pushen müssen. Deshalb ist für mich so ein bisschen die Frage, weniger was können wir alles regulieren, sondern gibt es eine Vision? Könnten Sie nicht eine Vision auch anstoßen, wie wir mehr ins Management kommen? Alles was wir hier regulieren, dauert viel zu lange und bis wir das reguliert haben, ist das Problem, was wir regulieren wollten, schon gar nicht mehr existent oder es hat sich noch verdreifacht.
Deshalb ist die Frage, sollten wir nicht mehr in ein europäisches Large Language Modell gehen? Wie ist da die Vision? Können wir bei den Guidelines und deregulieren oder simplifizieren? Das wäre auch noch was. Planen Sie möglicherweise, ich kann das jetzt leider nur so staccatomäßig machen, könnte man nicht auch oder wäre es nicht schön, eine Sandbox für besonders für Embodied AI zu schaffen, also das heißt für Robotics?
Das kriegen wir sonst alleine so nicht hin. Und ich danke für die Erwähnung des Urheberrechts. Auch da brauchen wir eine vernünftige Herangehensweise, eine gute Balance. Und ich hoffe, dass uns das nächstes Jahr dann auch gelingen wird, weil das neben dem Datenschutz oftmals eigentlich ein Hinderungsgrund darstellt für viele noch.
Wir könnten bei Robotics als Europäer noch führend sein, nur das muss gemanagt werden.
Tiemo Wölken
Yeah, thank you very much. First of all, thanks for mentioning the 4SPC files. I very much welcome that you mentioned them as the rapporteur of them, and I hope that we will find a way to deblock the deadlock we have been in for the couple of for the last years. So, but I would want like to take on a different topic. So, as you know, your country has recently seen great success with its creative sector, with books by Irish authors becoming very popular across Europe and the world.
So it's therefore not not a surprise that your presidency has created a whole exhibition and reading corner here in the European Parliament to celebrate Irish celebrate Irish authors and their works. Some books may have disappeared and are now somewhere else, but I think this was the intention.
But unfortunately, over the summer, we have seen that not everyone loves books like the Irish. It has recently been revealed that major AI companies are purchasing, scanning, and subsequently destroying large quantities of antique and modern books to train their AI systems. An internal paper from Anthropic even explicitly states the objective of their Project Panama is to destructively scanning all the books in the world. So it goes without saying that this is a horrible practice, potentially destroying untold volumes of books belonging to our common cultural heritage, all in order to maximize corporate benefits. The main purpose of these scanning of books appears to be the circumvention of copyright issues, as it may be protected by the fair use provision in the US copyright law.
However, there are also reports that EU booksellers have been approached to supply the books for this purpose, with the books being shipped overseas for destruction. And the question is now, what will your presidency do to prevent the circumvention of EU copyright law and to stop the destruction of European cultural heritage by AI companies? Thank you very much.
Tobiasz Bocheński
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your presentation, Madam Minister. Our main goal and our direction in ECR is quite sustainable. It's a red tape policy, deregulation, fighting with inflation of law. So when we discuss competitiveness, when we discuss all things in regard of AI terms, we are very interested in your perspective about our legal framework, because we very often hear, listen in many international meetings, conferences, agendas, that EU is a leader of regulation, but is not a leader of technology and development. And your point of view and Irish perspective is very interesting for us in this case.
Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, Mr. Bocheński. For the Renew Europe group, Deirdre Clune or Michael McNamara? Michael.
Michael McNamara
Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you, Minister, and you're very welcome today.
I also wish to focus on copyright, unsurprisingly, which the Irish presidency has flagged as a point of priority in their presidency program. So now that the Commission's call for evidence has closed and the Parliament has adopted its own position by a strong majority in March, could you please outline what steps the presidency intends to take in this regard and how it plans to foster consensus across this issue, which is quite a divisive issue between member states and between governments and AI companies? Many of those AI tech companies have their European headquarters in Dublin, or if not, have a substantial presence there. And I'm just wondering, have you or has your government met directly with them to hear their position on copyright and remuneration separate from any EU process, because they are, of course, quite hostile to any increased remuneration for what is, for what many in Europe would regard as an essential property right that is held by our artists? On the other hand, most in Europe would equally agree that we need to develop our own AI and that requires data.
So it is a very difficult issue. I don't think there are easy answers, but what I want to know is what answers you're bringing forward on behalf of the Commission. And lastly, your own advisory council, the Irish government's AI advisory council, put forward a set of recommendations in February 2025. And I'm just wondering, has the government formally taken any of those recommendations on board? And if so, will any of them feed into the concrete steps that you will be proposing as part of the presidency?
And thank you again for your time and welcome.
Sergey Lagodinsky
Thanks so much. Thank you, Chair. Madam Minister, thanks for joining us. Three questions. Number one, concerning the CADA Act, so Cloud and AI Development Act, of which, as you heard, we are working on here in this committee.
The first question is very easy. What is the Council Presidency's level of ambition? What is the timeline for working on your side, on the side of yourself and the Council, on CADA within this half a year? A second question is, we know that about 23% of the energy that is consumed in Ireland is consumed by data centers. And we know that you have very high energy prices, I think the highest in Europe so far.
We want to learn from the best.
How do you deal with that, with promoting on the one side and at the same time looking for sustainable and cheap solutions for data centers? And number three, we know that there are a number of bottlenecks in the enforcement area, DPA for example, in Ireland. We starting to work on kind of revisiting the enforcement architecture, landscape of governance of all digital laws in Europe in order to streamline them. Do you have a view on how to deal with that institutionally or otherwise? Thank you very much.
Niamh Smyth
Go raibh maith agat for the questions so far, nice and broad, and I will do my very best. So just to say from the outset, I'll appear before the IMCO committee next Thursday, 10th of September, with my colleague Minister Peter Burke, and I'll be able to there to address all the digital and AI issues.
But just I suppose at a very high level, in Ireland, obviously, we have just established our national AI office, which is a move in the right direction, I would say, for us in Ireland in terms of the regulation piece. And I take the point where you talk about, and we all know from the Draghi report and Letta report, we're all very good at regulation, but it is about setting out a pathway into the future that we can use AI for the benefit of citizens, and that's important to us also. And just to say, as part of the presidency, one of the most, well, I say this from a personal point of view, one of the most important events as I see it in the presidency is our AI, our national international AI summit, which is taking place on the 14th of October, where I suppose it is very much geared towards enterprise and how we can help the small and medium sector, particularly around AI adoption, because we see that as probably the greatest challenge within Ireland at the moment. While we have great AI tools out there, helping the small and medium sector within the enterprise area to adopt, to use it to their benefit and to see the benefits from it. So our AI summit is very much based on that, and of course, I would like to extend an invitation to each and every one of you who might be interested in attending that very important event.
We acknowledge the European Parliament's strong engagement on copyright issues, and I'm so delighted to see there's been such a particular interest in particularly the Irish literature and our heritage in that area too. So thank you for speaking to that today.
But to acknowledge the European Parliament's strong engagement on copyright issues including the Voss report focusing on the topic of AI, with our joint efforts we can continue to strengthen the EU copyright framework in a forward-looking and effective manner. The AI Act has established a carefully negotiated legal framework. It includes important provisions related to copyright. The enforcement powers of the European Commission's AI office took into effect in August and member states are to establish their national regulatory framework which Ireland has of course done. Copyright is an important priority for our presidency as I said from the outset and we're working towards a balanced copyright framework that rewards creativity, supports innovation and cultural diversity and remains fit for the digital age.
Again we'll follow the Commission's review of the CDMS directive with great interest. It is important that the discussions on possible changes is based on solid evidence and a thorough assessment of how the existing framework is functioning in practice and we'll support an open and balanced exchange that takes into account the interests of creators, of rights holders, of users, of researchers and innovators. I hope that in some way answers some of the questions raised today.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, Madam Minister. For the second round I have Marion Walsmann for EPP.
Marion Walsmann
Ja, vielen Dank, Frau Ministerin, für die Vorstellung der Prioritäten der irischen Ratspräsidentschaft. Als Rechtsausschuss ist uns natürlich sehr an der Kohärenz der europäischen Gesellschafts- und Digitalrechts gelegen, aber ebenso dürfen wir in diesen Zeiten der wirtschaftlichen Stagnation nicht die unmittelbaren Belange der Unternehmen, die von Vorschlägen wie der EU-Inc profitieren sollen, aus den Augen verlieren. Es wird von uns erwartet, dass wir ihnen Entlastungsinstrumente so schnell wie möglich anbieten. Ein solches Instrument werden die European Business Wallets sein, und diese versprechen nicht nur durch den digitalen Austausch rechtsgültiger Dokumente jährliche Einsparungen in Milliardenhöhe, sondern sie dürften auch das Fundament für eine echte grenzüberschreitende digitale Wirtschaft legen. Vor dem Hintergrund sowie vor dem der zeitgleich laufenden Verhandlungen zu den EU-Inc, was Sie erwähnt haben und besprochen haben, frage ich Sie, ob es aus Ihrer Sicht möglich wäre, dass wir mit dem Trilogergebnis noch in diesem Jahr rechnen können.
Hierbei würde mich auch interessieren, welche der Meinung der irischen Ratspräsidentschaft nach die für den Rat größte verbleibende Hürde in diesem Zusammenhang wäre.
Victor Negrescu
Minister, thank you so much for your presentation and of course I'm happy to hear that the Irish presidency is putting a lot of focus on AI, but also linking AI to our competitiveness. But I noticed that you are not mentioning the gaps existing between member states, but also not underlining maybe enough the disproportionate burden that legislation could be applied on SMEs. So I'm wondering what do we have in mind when it comes to protection of fundamental rights, striking the right balance between innovation but also protecting citizens, innovators and SMEs. And last but not least, of course, I'm wondering to which extent are you ready also to promote our agenda, our European agenda and legislative proposals at global level, because in order to act, in order to have an impact, we also need to act globally. And I'm wondering whether your presidency has anything in mind in this regard.
Thank you.
Lukas Sieper
Thank you very much, and I apologize Minister for being too late to actually hear your presentation. I will therefore take the liberty to take a more question more on the meta level.
I personally use AI for every and each single detail in my work. I use it to write my speeches. I use it to organize my team. I use it to reply to comments on social media. Sometimes I even use it to write messages to colleagues when I'm too tired in the evening.
I would be interested, what about you? How much do you use AI in your personal work as a politician, when and where? Thank you.
Sergey Lagodinsky
Thank you. That explains all the messages I get in the evening from Mr. Sieper. No, I'm joking. The question, you know, the good thing about being alone on behalf of my group is that I get the second time to ask the same question. The one question that I think is interesting to many of us is whether there is a timeline and there are very specific plans of you on CADATA, because, you know, I want to prevent any unfortunate and wrong impressions that are already circulating in Brussels.
So what are your ambitions on this law? Thank you so much.
Maravillas Abadía Jover
Gracias, presidente, y gracias a la señora Smith por su intervención. Irlanda asume la presidencia en un momento en el que la competitividad y la digitalización ocupan un lugar central en la agenda y, naturalmente, las expectativas son altas. Ha hablado usted de competitividad y en esta comisión trabajaremos sobre el Chips Act 2.0 y quisiera preguntarle qué pasos concretos tiene previsto la presidencia irlandesa para que este expediente avance antes de final de año. Y también llevamos tiempo hablando de la necesidad de reducir nuestras dependencias y de reforzar nuestra posición en la industria de los semiconductores. ¿Qué cree que debemos hacer de manera diferente esta vez para asegurarnos que esas prioridades no queden una vez más en buenas intenciones?
Y por último, me gustaría pedir que Irlanda tenga una posición activa para que el Consejo también apoye avanzar en la protección del copyright en línea con la emergencia de la IA, pero también en especial en la lucha contra la piratería online, donde la evaluación de las recomendaciones demuestra que hay que hacer más y el papel del Consejo es decisivo. Muchas gracias.
Krzysztof Śmiszek
Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, Madam Minister. Minister, we are currently working on the new Justice Programme for the European Union within the new MFF, which puts digitalization of cross-border judicial proceedings at its center. Given the Irish Presidency's strong focus on digital transformation, can you tell us whether this will be a priority during your Presidency? In particular, where do you see the greatest potential for digitalization to improve cross-border access to justice, and what do you see as the main risks, for example, in terms of interoperability, cybersecurity, fundamental rights, or digital divide? In this regard, cybersecurity and the resilience of our public digital infrastructure are becoming increasingly important, especially given the growing number of cyberattacks against European public infrastructure by Russian and pro-Russian actors.
And finally, how can we ensure that digitalization does not merely make justice systems more efficient, but actually makes justice more accessible to citizens across the European Union who might be less digitally equipped? Thank you so much.
Speaker 20
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Minister, for your presentation.
I'd like to touch on competitiveness and more in detail on the regulatory burden. The regulatory burden issue is, of course, something that spans different ministers, different committees here in the Parliament, but it's very relevant to all our businesses throughout Europe. And it's very good that the Commission has set up a goal of reducing the cost for businesses by 37.5 billion during these five years. And so far, they have presented something around 15 billion, I think, in the omnibus packages that they have presented so far. But presenting something is, of course, not delivering the cut of costs for businesses.
It means that we as co-legislator have to agree upon it as well, and it has to be implemented. So in order to keep up the pace and make sure that we reach that goal of 37.5 billion, we need to push up the tempo, I think. And here I'd like to ask your more general question of where you see which kind of files do you think we can finalize during your presidency? Thank you.
Speaker 21
Thank you, Mr. Warborn. I don't see any other colleague wishing to speak during the exchange with the Minister. And Minister, you have a good seven, eight minutes to answer the questions.
Niamh Smyth
I, if it's okay with you, Chair, I'll come back to our colleague here who asked me the same question twice because I didn't answer the first time. Appreciate your persistence, so thank you for that. So we're progressing the file of CADA through the working party as much as is feasible and will present a progress report at the Telecom Council. Regarding the two other questions regarding energy consumption and bottlenecks, I appreciate that the data centers and the energy question is a big question. It will be dealt with, I think, at our national, sorry, it will be dealt with, I think, on Thursday, if that's okay with you.
There was a question on justice, just to say Minister Jim O'Callaghan will be in the Parliament in September and obviously will maybe be able to refer to that a little bit further for you. I know the fundamental rights piece, protecting copyright, protecting copyright is a huge issue and certainly very much a priority for the Irish presidency.
The 28th regime, our colleague here began with the Commission published its very ambitious proposal of course on the 18th March this year and in accordance with the clear objective set out by the March European Council and with the timeline in the April One Europe One Market roadmap agreed by the EU institutions, we will do our utmost to obtain a Council negotiation mandate as soon as possible and to reach a political agreement within the European Parliament by the end of this year. Our presidency will work with the member states and later with the Parliament to make sure that we can strike an optimal balance between speed and of course quality of text, which is critically important. We've received constructive support in the negotiations from member states for the overall objectives of the proposal. Just to reiterate the point that I will appear before the IMCO committee next Thursday and I'm sure you're all in a position maybe to come along to that and we can have maybe a deeper discussion on some of the digital transformation and AI issues that have been raised here today. The online piracy, particularly with the live events remains an important challenge, assessment of the effectiveness of the recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events showed that the recommendation has not been sufficient to address the problem.
The Commission has indicated that the assessment of the recommendation will contribute to the possible targeted measures aimed at improving the copyright framework.
The Presidency will discuss the assessment with the Member States and consider the possible ways forward. And what I didn't get to say in my opening remarks was that while we have an AI summit in October, we also have a copyright meeting and summit which is on the same day. So if you're in town in Dublin for the AI summit, I would encourage you all to attend that summit and that conference as well on copyright, which is in the very famous and well-known Film Institute in Temple Bar in Dublin. Thank you, Chair.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, Madam Minister, for your presence and also for being active in the exchange with the members. I wish you well on behalf of the entire committee during the Irish Presidency. Thank you very much.
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