Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Ordinary meeting
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
Offset
Transcript offset
Export
Live capture
Versions of this video
Transcripts may differ slightly from one version to another.
ITRE European Parliament
Follow its sittings
Peter Burke
Ireland also plans to hold trilogues once the European Parliament negotiating mandate is received. We are at your disposal to start exchanging at technical level to prepare the ground for upcoming negotiations, and we should then start negotiations as soon as our mandates are ready.
The presidency is strongly committed to the EU single market reform agenda. Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the EU economy and society, providing 85 million jobs and driving digital and sustainable innovation. They account for 99% of all businesses in the European Union. 24 million European SMEs create quality jobs anchored in local communities. Nevertheless, SMEs still face major uncertainties, supply constraints, labor shortages, and not always fair competition.
Furthermore, they continue to struggle with the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine, high energy prices, supply chains disruptions, and other global economic challenges. Volatility and unpredictability in the current economic context have made it more difficult for SMEs to do business. We need to make business easier and faster in Europe and significantly reduce administrative, regulatory, and reporting burden for SMEs. SMEs are essential to provide solutions and innovative products and services that are needed for the EU's transformation towards a green, digitalized, and ever-growing economy. Reducing energy prices and decarbonization is another vital element of our overall competitiveness agenda.
The Industrial Accelerator Act, identified as a priority by leaders at the European Council, will play a major role in this space. This is reflected in the ambitious timeline for completion by the end of this year. The Irish presidency is fully committed to that timeline and will work with member states to progress the file as quickly as possible while ensuring a focus on developing quality legislation that delivers on the overall ambition and aligns with the principle of simplicity by design. We intend to make steady progress in the months ahead and are grateful for the constructive engagement of all member states and Parliament on this complex but impactful file. We've a lot of work to do together and we owe it to European industry to live up to the accelerator promise in the proposal's title.
Europe's industrial competitiveness is on the line. We have a clear mandate to take action. The Accelerator Act is a key piece of the EU's response to ensure our strategic and critical sectors and the skilled workforce that underpin them are resilient in the face of turbulent global markets. I am of course aware that stakeholders hold a wide range of views on the Industrial Accelerator Act.
Discussions of the Council have been detailed and intensive and I look forward to similarly robust and constructive discussion with the Parliament when appropriate. Achieving the ambitious timeline for agreement across institutions will depend on the shared ambition and willingness of all Member States and Parliament to be pragmatic and constructive in agreeing a well-designed text. All Member States share the common goals of the IAA, namely accelerating industrial decarbonisation, enhancing economic security and simplifying permitting. Ireland remains committed to ensuring that regulation is simple, of high quality, legally robust, easy to implement and avoid any excessive administrative burdens for industry. Space is another key enabler of Europe's competitiveness, security and resilience, and Ireland will work to progress important legislation in this domain too.
Firstly, the EU Space Act aimed to create a safer, more sustainable and resilient space through a single set of rules for space activities in the EU. We will work to advance the text for this towards Council position as soon as possible. We will also aim to rapidly advance the EU Space Service Agency regulation, which will ultimately ensure that the implementation of the EU's ambitious space agenda is placed on a sustainable and long-term footing.
We will work to make substantial progress to enabling the Council position on the file during our presidency. The presidency will also strive to progress other key initiatives such as the Chips Act 2.0, which has been specifically designed to strengthen the internal market. Chips Act 2.0 was adopted as part of the Tech Sovereignty Package, and this package is aligned with the Cloud and AI Development Act, a strategic roadmap for digitalization and AI in energy, and the EU Open Source Strategy. Chips Act 2.0 aims to strengthen the semiconductor ecosystem and supply chain resilience while boosting domestic demand. To demonstrate our commitment to progressing this initiative, the Irish presidency has designated this file as a priority during our tenure.
On the topic of resilience of supply, the Irish presidency is acutely aware that strengthening the EU's capacity to secure critical resources, particularly of scarce critical raw materials across the entire value chain, will be necessary for Europe to implement renewable energy, green and digital transitions.
Critical raw materials are also necessary to deliver on our defense readiness objectives. Ireland is actively participating at the EU CRM board and subgroup level on implementation of relevant aspects of the Critical Raw Materials Act to accelerate the achievement of the CRMA and Resource EU objectives, preserve and expand EU production of primary and secondary CRMs, strengthen the EU's resilience supply against disruptions and chart a path towards faster diversification of critical material supply chains. As I highlighted earlier, the Irish presidency has carried out its responsibility guided by the spirit of our motto, Ní neart go cur le chéile, strength through unity. This principle reflects our conviction that the best outcomes are achieved through cooperation, respect and a sense of shared purpose. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before the committee today.
We look forward to maintaining a strong and constructive partnership with Parliament in the months ahead and we work collectively to advance the interests of citizens throughout the European Union. I now hand over to my colleague, Minister Smyth, who will address the committee. I look forward to your views and engaging with your questions following Minister Smyth's remarks.
Niamh Smyth
Thank you, Chair, honorable members. It is a pleasure to join you today and to contribute to this important discussion.
I welcome the opportunity to engage with members of this committee and to build on the remarks already made by my colleague Minister Burke. I'd like to reiterate the remarks made by my colleague on the important role by the European Parliament and particularly this committee in influencing policies that affect businesses, energy markets, research institutions and the everyday lives of citizens across the European Union. Throughout the presidency, Ireland has sought to foster open dialogue, practical cooperation and a strong spirit of partnership with the European Parliament, the Commission and the member states. At a time when Europe faces significant economic, social and geopolitical challenges, our ability to work together across institutions is more important than ever. By combining our experiences, our expertise and our shared commitment to the European project, we can develop effective responses to those challenges while creating new opportunities for citizens and businesses throughout the Union.
I look forward to outlining our approach in greater detail and to hearing the perspective of committee members here today during our exchange.
As Minister for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Transformation, I am determined to lead on the digital and AI transformation pillar of the One Europe, One Market roadmap, which is central to strengthening our competitiveness, our innovation, and of course productivity across the European Union. In that context, the Cloud and AI Development Act represents a critical step towards securing Europe's long-term competitiveness and technology leadership. As a cornerstone of the European Commission's technological sovereignty package, the Act seeks to ensure the European Union has the cloud computing, AI, and data processing capacity necessary to support future economic growth, drive innovation, and deliver high-quality public services. Cloud and AI capabilities are no longer simply technology enablers, they are strategic assets that underpin the competitiveness and resilience of our economy. They form the foundation of innovation across sectors such as healthcare, energy, communication, financial services, and public administration.
If Europe is to compete successfully in an increasingly digital and AI-driven global economy, we must ensure that businesses, researchers and public authorities have access to world-class digital infrastructure. The ambition behind the act aligns closely with the objectives of the One Europe, One Market roadmap, reducing strategic dependencies, accelerating digital transformation and creating the conditions for European businesses to innovate, scale and compete internationally. CADA raises important questions related to resilience, to security, innovation and competitiveness. And these issues will need to be carefully examined by Member States over the coming months. As Presidency, Ireland's role is to facilitate an open and constructive discussion among Member States and to support a thorough examination of the CADA proposal.
This includes ensuring all perspectives are heard and that the potential implications for Europe's digital ecosystem, competitiveness and technological resilience are fully understood. The objective of the Presidency will be to help advance discussions in a balanced and evidence-based manner with a view to identifying areas of common ground and supporting informed decision-making as negotiations progress. As Minister for Trade Promotion, AI and Digital Transformation, during our Presidency I strongly support measures that enable businesses to innovate, to grow and to compete more effectively.
By simplifying regulatory requirements and creating clearer rules for data sharing and access, the EU's digital simplification omnibus package will help accelerate digital transformation across the European economy. This omnibus package is part of the Commission's wider mission to simplify and streamline the EU's regulatory framework. The digital simplification package aims to unlock opportunities in the use of data, recognizing data as a fundamental resource in the EU economy. Compliance with the rules should come at a lower cost, deliver on the same objectives and bring a competitive advantage to responsible businesses. The new EU Data Act regulation will provide a single, clear rulebook for businesses, reducing competitive barriers and compliance burdens for SMEs in particular.
Users of connected devices or recipients of services related to connected devices have the right to request access to their data and its transfer to third parties. This greater data portability allows us to easily switch to other providers, supporting and fostering competition within the market. The digital omnibus package takes a dynamic, ambitious and risk-based approach. It will remove regulatory overlaps, reduce burdens and support compliance.
It is vital in improving competitiveness at EU level, in line with the Draghi report. Both Letta and Draghi reports underline the need to reduce regulatory and administrative burden on EU companies. The new EU Data Act regulation will support innovation and economic growth for businesses, helping to unlock new opportunities and foster a competitive data market through the creation of a harmonised framework for businesses and individuals on fair access to and use of non-personal data. Chair, honourable members, the issues before us require continued collaboration and a willingness to work together in pursuit of common objectives. Ireland has been committed throughout its presidency in promoting solutions that are ambitious, practical, and focused on delivering real benefits for people across the European Union.
Engagement with Parliament is an essential part of that effort, and we greatly value the contribution of this committee in advancing those shared goals. I'm grateful for the opportunity to address you today and for the insights and perspective of the members will provide. We remain committed to maintaining a close and productive partnership in this committee and with the European Parliament as a whole in the period ahead. Thank you, Chair, I look forward to continuing our discussions, working together to deliver positive outcomes for citizens across the European Union.
Go raibh maith agat.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you, thank you for your opening remarks to both Minister Burke and Minister Smith. And I do appreciate the very detailed information that you have provided on specific legislations and the priorities you're going to be pursuing on that matter. I'm sure this was extremely useful for the colleagues in the room today. We are going to proceed with the speakers in in one round of questions, so each one of you will have two minutes. And I'm calling for colleagues who haven't been added to the speakers list yet and want to participate, please do indicate it in in the next few minutes so we can take a note of that.
Without a further ado, I will start with Mr. Seán Kelly from EPP for two minutes, the floor is yours.
Seán Kelly
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus fáilte roimh an mbeirt Airí, Peadar de Búrca agus Niamh Nic Dhonncha, agus guím gach rath oraibh as ucht an deis iontach seo atá agaibh chun jab is fearr a dhéanamh ar son saoránaigh na hEorpa i rith na bliana seo chugainn le linn ár dtréimhse san uachtaránacht. Anois tá sraith ceisteanna agam ar son mo ghrúpa, an EPP.
So, the Commission's proposal for the Industrial Accelerator Act introduces conditions on foreign direct investment in certain strategic sectors, which among other things would require a 49% cap on foreign investors' shareholdings, a requirement for a joint venture to be created between the foreign investor and an EU entity, technology transfer of the investor's IP and know-how to the EU entity, and a minimum of 50% of the workforce comprised of EU nationals. I can understand the logic of such measures as regards contributing to EU autonomy and control over such investment. However, the Draghi report calls for 800 billion per year in investment to achieve policy ambitions. Stable partners with whom Europe have a long history of cooperating may look to other investment opportunities with lower levels of bureaucracy at a time when Europe is in dire need of private sector investment. For a country like Ireland, with a successful FDI-led growth model and a small open economy, is the introduction of such measures a cause for some concern, given the impact it may have on our ability to continue attracting inward investment?
And how do we find the balance here between ensuring Europe is open and attractive to inward investment and strengthening our strategic autonomy? And finally, more broadly, what progress does the presidency believe it can make on this file between now and the end of the year? Go raibh maith agat, a Uachtaráin, agus arís fáilte roimh an Aire. Go raibh maith agat.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you, Seán, for being also very precise in terms of time. Thank you, we appreciate that. Next one on the speaker's list from the S&D, that's going to be myself for a question. So I'll try also to be as specific and precise as the ministers were in their intro remarks. So we all know that the backbone of the European economy are our SMEs with like 99% of all businesses in Europe.
They guarantee like quite high level of employment with the two-thirds of our labor force basically being employed in SMEs. What we see at the moment is that the artificial intelligence revolution accelerates and this has the potential to open a massive gap. On one side we have the global tech giants that have unlimited more or less capital and computing power. And on the other side we have millions of traditional European SMEs that risk being completely left behind.
And this is probably a challenge and an obstacle we're going to be we're going to be facing in the upcoming years. And of course we cannot allow the the SMEs from Europe to to be just passive observers of what's happening on the global scene. Having said that, Ireland is currently leading in the the Council and trying to to help us champion EU competitiveness. So my question is really regarding your your thoughts in terms of SMEs and AI. Because beyond the tech startups, what concrete economic sorry initiatives is the Irish presidency introducing to help the more traditional non-tech SMEs like local retailers, manufacturers, logistics firms to afford and integrate AI tools in their daily operations?
Because this is a question which is coming from all different different parts of our our unions. And do you plan to put a bit more pressure to leverage some of the EU funding and training programs to to ensure that actually the small businesses can access the skilled workers they need to be able to successfully deploy the AI tools?
That's going to be from me. And now we are moving to the next colleagues on the speaker's list. This is going to be Mr. Torselli from ECR. The floor is yours.
Francesco Torselli
Thank you, Chair. I will speak in Italian, so please, if you want to put your headphone. Thank you. Anyway, noi abbiamo letto con attenzione il programma della presidenza irlandese e vi faccio i complimenti perché in gran parte è estremamente condivisibile. Sicuramente è condivisibile quella parte laddove avete voluto lasciare la trasformazione digitale all'interno del capitolo sugli strumenti per la competitività e per la capacità di innovazione e non creare un capitolo a parte.
Questo ci trova fortemente concordi. E occorrerà capire insieme quali siano le strade da percorrere per tradurre questa visione in qualcosa di concreto, perché crediamo che l'AI, il cloud, l'edge computing, ma al tempo stesso i data center, le reti, i satelliti siano parte dello stesso ecosistema, della stessa strategia.
E da qui l'importanza di atti regolatori della Commissione come il DNA, l'MSS, il Chips Act 2.0. E arrivo alla prima domanda. Vorrei chiedervi quali sono secondo voi, secondo la presidenza irlandese gli interventi prioritari per creare le condizioni affinché questi quali gli investimenti necessari alla trasformazione digitale vengano effettivamente realizzati, diventino qualcosa di concreto. L'altro passaggio è sulla semplificazione. L'Irlanda si è spesa con chiarezza su questo tema.
Lo ha sottolineato anche la presidente come le nostre imprese, le piccole e medie imprese che rappresentano il tessuto principale dell'Europa debbano fare i conti spesso con norme che di difficile comprensione, ma spesso con la sovrapposizione normativa. E da questo la seconda domanda. Secondo voi quando parliamo di digital simplification intendiamo soltanto un alleggerimento delle norme o avete in mente vogliamo fare qualcosa per evitare la sovrapposizione normativa, cioè aggravare con regolamenti che si sovrappongono proprio le imprese e le aziende più piccole del nostro territorio.
Grazie mille e ovviamente tanti auguri per la vostra presidenza.
Michael McNamara
Thank you very much, Chair. Minister Smith, Minister Burke, I'd like to welcome you both. You, Minister Burke, you started by explaining what nì neart go cur le chéile means and I suppose one of the areas where Europe needs to cur le chéile most is with regard to AI and cloud development. And Minister Smith, you outlined the absolute necessity of that. We have European companies who have to store their data in cloud servers that are outside the control of European governments, even if they're located in government, even if they're located in Europe.
We have European data, even highly sensitive data, which is beyond the control of European governments, even if located in Europe. I suppose the fact that Ireland has so many data centers could be a strategic advantage in some respects if, of course, there was any sovereign control over those data centers. And one of the big obstacles to that is the the Cloud Act in the United States.
So what is the appropriate European response to that? Because it's something that simply, while it's good of course to foster our develop our cooperation with the United States, this is something that would not be tolerated by the current United States administration or indeed anywhere whereby a kill switch is maintained. It is said that if if governments in locations where these data centers are located try to exert exert any sort of power over them, that the United States will reserve the power to essentially turn them off or use them for their will. So that is important. Also the Cloud and AI Development Act.
Minister Smith, I just wonder would it be unfair to characterize your your description of it as sort of akin to Saint Augustine, 'O Lord, let me be good, but not just yet'? The Cloud Act is good, but we're not going to do anything with it. Because there's a feeling here at large in the European Union that Ireland isn't really going to advance this. We're going to collect views, which is, you know, fairly weak and fairly nothing really. But this is something that is urgent and you've acknowledged that it's urgent.
So why aren't we moving it forward? Is it because this poses a particular problem for Ireland? And if so, then does that not cut to the idea that the chairmanship is an opportunity to rise above our our own member state's needs and look at what Europe needs as a whole? And Europe does need to progress this and progress it quickly and at scale.
So why aren't we doing that? With regard to the Cyber Security 2 Act, it obviously has very ambitious proposals around high-risk sourcing and stripping out high-risk materials from the supply chain. But this has huge cost repercussions, not just for telcos, but of course for telcos, but for practically every sector, including SMEs and sectors that are hugely important across the Irish economy, across the European economy. So are we moving towards this determination of high risk being determined by the Council, by the Commission, or by individual member states? Because I mean that's hugely important, so what is our direction of travel in that regard?
And lastly, going back to AI, the Irish presidency has put AI at the center of its program, notwithstanding the fact that there don't appear to be any concrete plans to advance the CAD, the Cloud and AI Development Act, but I look forward to your clarification on that. There's an AI summit in Dublin in less than a month's time. Can you tell us what it's about? Is there any policy directive envisaged in that, or is it kind of like a trade show for tech bros, like a ploughing championship, but instead of big new tractors, we'll have big new AI companies demonstrating what they're, or is there actually some policy that's going to be put forward in this?
Because I'm being asked a lot by by people here, by companies involved in the AI space, what is it about? And while there is a website in two languages, English and Irish, it says nothing as of yet in either language about what it's about. Now I appreciate it's being accompanied by an event on copyright, which Minister Smith outlined and I very much welcome that. But what's this summit about and who is it for? Is it a trade show or is there going to be some policy initiative proposed or discussed?
Thank you.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you. And we have two more colleagues on the speaker's list and then we're going to be turning to ministers for the replies. And now from S&D we have Mr. Ecke.
Matthias Ecke
Yeah, thank you very much, Chair. Thank you, ministers, for your presentations and for the lively debate that we will have. Very entertaining remarks from my colleague McNamara. I want to to also elaborate on that a bit. We know that Ireland is a backbone of our digital economy in Europe, which is important given its yeah, given its value-added prosperity potential, competitiveness potential that the digital economy has.
But in the same time, as of course some of us are asking what role the presidency will play in the digital rulebook because it's affected by its Ireland as such is affected so much.
Then I come to the Cloud and AI Development Act. We've seen now that some member states are hesitating with the Commission's proposal when we see that we have certain categories of data storage sovereignty that comes with the Cloud Act and then gives some centralized conditions for that. How would you like to prevent the deadlock in the Council where we all end up with national sovereignty over European tech sovereignty, which I think is a wrong way to do? So especially given the importance of that business in your country, can we expect with your expertise that you bring countries together that the CADA is really making a difference? And the other question comes about the Chips Act.
You mentioned it as a priority, which I welcome because it's a very important file also for us here in the Parliament. But in the same time, the Chips Act as such has no financing in it. It completely relies on national funding, but also on the new ECF, on the European Competitiveness Fund.
What will you do to prevent especially the ECF from cuts, given that we've seen some of the member states in the European Union are aiming for significantly cutting the proposed budget, the Commission's proposal? And we all know that it quite likely will be that second pillar, the pillar of ECF, of Horizon, that will be significantly cut if these cuts will be implemented. So what can you do also in the realm of budget from an economic and industrial policy perspective to make Chips Act work? Thank you.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you. And last on the speakers' list for two minutes as well is Madame Soralo from the non-attached.
Malika Sorel
Merci Madame la Présidente. Je souhaitais remercier les ministres irlandais pour leurs interventions. Vous le savez, la situation économique dans certains secteurs au sein de l'Union européenne est extrêmement préoccupante. Elle est même dramatique. Nous le voyons.
Le secteur par exemple de l'industrie automobile traverse une crise historique dans plusieurs de nos pays, et cela est directement lié à des décisions politiques.
Donc je souhaiterais savoir ce que vous, vous proposeriez, en dehors de ce que l'on dit habituellement, des réglementations, etc., pour faire que certaines décisions politiques ne soient plus jamais prises sans tenir compte de l'avis des principaux concernés, et en particulier des experts, et je veux parler ici des ingénieurs. Parce que si on les avait écoutés pour le secteur de l'automobile, nous n'en serions pas là. Je voudrais vous soumettre quelque chose : que pensez-vous d'une règle qui consisterait à dire deux réglementations supprimées pour une nouvelle réglementation ? C'est-à-dire un principe qui guiderait le politique. Deuxième point, beaucoup de nos pays européens traversent une situation extrêmement dangereuse qui remet en cause le projet de l'Union européenne.
Je trouve pour ma part qu'il n'y a pas assez de campagnes de communication pour montrer aux citoyens européens tout ce que l'Union européenne apporte, et en particulier aussi les motifs de fierté. Donc est-ce que vous seriez prêt à réfléchir à des campagnes de communication autour de nos leaders mondiaux, on a ASML, on a d'autres grandes entreprises, et aussi une question pratique puisque vous avez parlé de l'espace, est-ce que vous seriez prêt, parce que la politique et les résultats s'incarnent aussi, à organiser un événement populaire pour l'accueil de notre astronaute Sophie Adenot, qui incarne à la perfection au travers de l'ESA la réussite du projet européen, et là aussi c'est pour faire connaître à nos concitoyens la force du projet européen au travers des projets que nous menons tous ensemble dans l'Union européenne ?
Je vous remercie.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you. Minister Burke and Minister Smith, we had a lot of questions from very various topics and fields. As you see, our members are really interested in many of the aspects that you have presented, but of course they are adding the additional color to some of them. So I will pass the floor now to both of you for reflections and answers and comments based on what you've heard for up to seven minutes each, I would say, since there were too many questions. And I will start again with Minister Burke, and please do include some of your concluding remarks probably in those answers now.
Peter Burke
Thank you, go raibh maith agat, Cathaoirleach. So thank you very much for all the members for their contributions, which provide a huge amount of value as we go about our presidency.
First of all, for MEP Seán Kelly in relation to the Industrial Accelerator Act, which has been set out as a key file in the One Europe One Roadmap and has a very ambitious deadline to get to a general position by the end of this year, and one which Ireland takes very seriously. And when you look at the challenge in trying to achieve which is going to be pretty significant, 20% of the Union's GDP growth from manufacturing, which you're about 14.3 now, leaves us with a very stark challenge and critically to protect so many strategic sectors within the Union. And that is going to be very, very important and how we operationalize that mechanically in terms of our decarbonization, accelerating the green transition, looking at licensing, looking at consents, ensuring that permitting is more efficient, all that work is going to be crucial. And critically you mentioned, which is so important in connection to the direction of foreign direct investment in the negotiations, just to advise you that we are at a very advanced stage. I think Ireland is very clear as the president, and I speak as the presidency, how important FDI is to the Union and what it brings in terms of competitiveness, in terms of ideas, in terms of capital, which are critical to its success.
But also I'm very much aware that there are challenges in terms of some very significant investments from some strategic sectors from third countries. And we have to be careful with regard to that. So it's about getting a balance, which I think we will achieve. And we know the value of what leaning into the globe brings to the European economy. And hopefully we can achieve that as well as all our other ambitions contained in the Industrial Accelerator Act, which needs to be a game changer for Europe.
We're very, very clear on that from Ireland's perspective. Just from Selina, you're very clear, I know Minister Smith has a number of areas under your remit, but I did reference how important SMEs are in my opening contribution. And critically, be it the ECF working to have a single set of rules, a single authorization program to ensure SMEs benefit, if it's EU Inc, if it's working through the single market roadmap, all those areas I think we have to have SMEs at our heart because of the fact they make up so much of the success of our Union, 99% of all businesses, which really speaks volumes for itself, 24 million in terms of SMEs, which is pretty significant, and 85 million jobs in the Union.
And that will be very much at the heart of our presidency. And Neale will comment on some of the other areas in relation to digital that you mentioned. I just to also I know in relation to MEP Michael McNamara, Neale has a number of areas that you have referenced as well, but just to say that, you know, Ireland has a very proud track record of establishing positions and moving files in our presidency. This will be our eighth presidency. It's not our first rodeo.
It's one which we will ensure that we make progress. And we are ambitious. And we also know the safety requirements for citizens within the Union as well. And that's why I look forward to our AI conference working with Minister Smith and her team on the 14th of October, which will really look at the application stage of AI as well. And that will be very important for the Union.
Where is the productivity? What does this application look like? And then also looking at how we safeguard citizens and how we train citizens to get opportunities throughout the Union, which will be very important.
And I know Minister Smith will comment more, who's doing a huge amount of work in connection with that. Mr. Ehler, MEP, in relation to chips, I'll just comment on which are critical. And I mean, through COVID, we learned one thing very clearly as a Union, that when supply chains were disrupted, we saw in the automotive sector, we saw the critical shortages because we all know if you go to an EV, your fridge, your mobile phone, chips are everywhere. They're really the lifeblood of our European economy, and we're really committed to doing a huge amount in advancing Chips 2.0. We know the ambitions that were set out in the original Chips Act, you know, our call to get to 20% of global production, where we are now is massively challenged.
And we really have to push as hard as we can. And I would be very much committed to making progress in that regard, which will be very, very important for it. In relation to, thanks Matthias for that. So in relation to Malika as well, a few areas mentioned there. Obviously our space, which is, you know, a huge sector, a key strategic sector has been identified through Draghi and Letta, about 1 trillion by 2040, which shows exactly where the opportunity is going.
But it also shows the need for, you know, uniformity to ensure clear rules and to ensure that technically that we are very clear on what we are doing. And obviously there's challenges in relation to the scope in relation to third parties, original liabilities that we're working through, which we will take very seriously.
And obviously there's challenges in relation to the scope in relation to third parties or extra liabilities that we're working through, which we will take very seriously and hopefully that we can make progress in it during our presidency to work with the co-legislators. And also mention, Milica mentioned obviously part which will come in the Industrial Accelerator Act in relation to our industries that are under significant pressure. And we will have a very ambitious time, as I mentioned to MEP Seán Kelly in connection with that. And obviously in relation to what you raised in relation to the astronaut in question, that we can also examine that as well, your suggestion and reflect upon it, which is very timely. Yeah, and better communication, absolutely.
That's also an observation which we can work on with the Council and communicate the progress, which is key for European citizens in the first instance, which is very important to understand that progress. And thank you very much for your interactions.
Thank you, colleagues and chair, for your question. I know Minister Burke has covered most of it. Just I'm going to maybe do it in a more general sense. In relation to CADA, it's just important to point out it was published in July and there have been a number of working groups since that point. And I know we are working at breakneck speed to progress this as quickly as possible.
Niamh Smyth
And I just want to say that and acknowledge that. Of course, CADA raises important questions relating to resilience, to security, innovation, competitiveness. And these issues need to be carefully discussed and examined by member states over the coming months. While there's broad support among member states for strengthening the resilience and the capacity, the proposal obviously raises a number of challenges from the Irish presidency perspective. They include, of course, balancing the sovereignty concerns with the need to maintain an open single market, avoiding measures that effectively restrict market access.
That's also an important consideration. Reduce the risk of fragmentation caused by different national approaches in the implementation of it, and addressing the impact of the data center growth on energy supply and grid capacity, and minimizing market distortions and additional regulatory burdens arising from procurement requirements. I think it's important to say as presidency, Ireland's role in facilitating an open and constructive discussion among member states and support a thorough examination of the CADA proposal. That's important. Includes ensuring that all perspectives are heard and that the potential implications on Europe's digital ecosystem, its competitiveness, and technological resilience are fully understood.
Go raibh maith agat. Oh, apologies, the summit, you asked an important question around, there is actually a very specific theme and it is about harnessing AI for adoption and to your point, chair, ensuring that there isn't a, well closing the digital divide that may be there and ensuring that the SME sector has every opportunity to be exposed to the AI tools that will help them to advance and to ensure that they're not left behind. But in terms of the theme itself, it is very specific around adoption and adaptation and ensuring, we've been very mindful in that, that the SME sector is included, that it isn't just about the experts in the area, it's about those who may be less capable of or less, I suppose, informed about the capabilities of AI and the potential it has to grow and scale and benefit the SME sector is really important. And also just to acknowledge the fact that Ireland has a proven track record of delivering important legislation in a balanced manner from seven previous presidencies. Ireland takes the role of being honest broker very seriously given the need to collectively advance the EU agenda.
Go raibh maith agat.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you. Thank you.
So, this more or less concludes our intervention, interaction today. I would like again to use the... Mr. MacManus?
Michael McNamara
Sorry, I asked about Cyber Security Act, are we moving towards the high risk being determined by member states or by the Commission or by the Council given the huge cost that this will entail for SMEs and that's I suppose one of the major topics for discussion here this morning. Thanks.
Peter Burke
Yeah, we can come back, it's for a different Council obviously on the issue of the Cyber Security Act, but we can come back to you on that.
Tsvetelina Penkova
Thank you. And thank you for the remark. Please do allow me to express our warm gratitudes to Minister Burke and Minister Smyth for being here with us today and for the very fruitful and important discussion we had in the ITRE Committee. We wish you good luck with the presidency and as you see you can count on a very dynamic and fruitful conversations with the members of the European Parliament, looking forward to be cooperating more on some of the topics discussed today.
Thank you so much for being here. And before we conclude the ITRE meeting of today, there is nothing in the any other business point and I just have to announce that the next committee meeting is going to take place in Brussels on the 28th of September, but before that we'll see each other in Strasbourg and have a successful rest of the week.