Sven SIMON

Policy topics Sven SIMON is active on

What Sven SIMON has said (37)

• 2026-06-16 “President Thank you so much. Many companies in Europe are a bit desperate because of the bureaucratic burden. For many years, out of 27 national rules, we turned it all into 1 European rule. But since the Green Deal, we're now suffering from too many in too many reporting and a lot of value added aspects which cannot be recognized. I mean, we wanna talk about climate change, so we need to expand our network. At the same time, other rules, the flora, fauna, habitat directive, and other sets of climate conditions are making it very difficult to put these projects into practice. Are you prepared to have fully harmonized European regulations with a ban, not to deteriorate this and therefore have competing proposals, to be shelved, so that certain parts of infrastructure cannot be interrupted? Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Yeah, thank you very much, Maria Agnes, members, distinguished experts, on behalf of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, I warmly welcome you to this joint CD Afco hearing. It's the first CD Afco joint hearing. What we organise. Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Indeed, we meet at a moment when Europe's security assumptions are being fundamentally tested. The geopolitical environment is becoming harsher, and Europeans still rely to a large extent on purchasing defence equipment outside the union, mainly from the United States. This is not only a question of capability, but of dependency, and of whether we are using our collective resources in the most coherent and effective way. As the committee responsible for the union's institutional framework, Afco must ask whether our current rules are fit for a union that wants to take greater responsibility for its own security, and how we can ensure that common efforts are efficient, coordinated and, of course, democratically accountable. Today's hearing is an opportunity to take a clear eyed look at the institutional constitution, or conditions for a genuine European Defence Union, and what needs to change if Europe is to act with credibility and purpose. I have now the pleasure to give the floor for their introductory remarks to the two co-rapporteurs of the joint Afco Report on Institutional Aspects of the Common European Defence Union. That is Niclas Herbst on behalf of CD and my predecessor, Salvatore de Maio on behalf of Afco. Nicolas, you have the floor for two minutes, please.”
  EU competences on defence
• “To benefit from. Italy was smiling a bit because the Italians and Spanish have a little bit more speaking time in the house. We know this is a cultural thing, so we know, but we don't have speakers from the left. And so you could have to take more time now. I have been informed that a representative of the commission would like to take the floor. The commission is represented by Thierry Boulanger, a head of unit for artificial Intelligence, regulation and Compliance. The floor is yours.”
  Multilingualism in EU institutions
• “Any other colleague would like to take the floor? If that is not the case, maybe also from my side. A neutral perspective I would really like for the next shadows meeting to strongly urge you to strictly adhere to the afco competences. We had conflicts again and again in this term and otherwise. As it was just said, we risk entering into conflicts with other committees and the delineation of competences is not a political choice. It is not a political decision, but a legally binding matter that could be subject to judicial review and compared to the power sharing competence catalogues of the treaties. Our annex six of the Rules of Procedure is rather clear, not ambiguous. Afco Committee is responsible for the institutional aspects of the European integration process, in particular the preparation, initiation and proceedings of ordinary and simplified treaty revision procedures, and that concern the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is part of primary law attached to the treaties. We have a competence and second, the implementation of the treaties and the assessment of their operation. This is what we are talking about. And Leber Committee is responsible for the protection within the territory of the Union of Citizens Rights, human rights and fundamental rights, including the protection of minorities as laid down in the treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union, and secondly, the measures needed to combat all forms of discrimination other those based on sex or those occurring to the workplace and in the labour market.”
  EU political integration
• “Okay. Item number nine, an exchange of views on the own initiative. Report on the institutional aspects of artificial intelligence in the context of the European integration. On 3rd December, we held a workshop on this issue to discuss the key governance questions raised by Artificial Intelligence. Imco and Labour committees will deliver opinions on this file. And now I thank you for your patience, your waiting all the time for this moment. Emmanuel Kefalogiannis, please our rapporteur. Thank you.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “So now we come to item number seven, implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the EU legal framework. And here, as I said our rapporteur is Alessandro Zan. Overall we received this report, received 346 amendments which have been tabled to the draft report. And I will now give the floor to the rapporteur, please. Alessandro Zan, thank you.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you very much. The broad question, which comes from when I go around in the constituency and also talk to startups, that and you mentioned it in the in the first contribution for our first speaker. Um, innovation friendly, when we talk about this AI act and innovation friendliness. Um, usually the feedback is with this AI act, we killed any kind of innovation in Europe and we are not competitive any longer. Data protection is above everything in Europe generally. Um, and here as well. How do you see that? And is there a reform needed? Uh, from the perspective I'm more I'm more and more concerned that we, um, decide on thousands of regulations and directives, but it is nearly impossible to have any kind of reform. Amending, revoking, abolishing EU law. And that makes it more and more problematic when we speak about competitiveness as well, but also from an institutional and democratic perspective. So I would say one round of speakers in the same order, and then a final word of the rapporteur, and then we are done.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “So, ladies and gentlemen, please take your seat that we can start the meeting. I'm sorry. Please sit down. So good morning, colleagues. Ladies and gentlemen, this meeting is web streamed. I welcome you. The draft agenda was circulated on 25th November. If there are no objections, I declare the agenda adopted. Interpretation for this meeting is available in several languages. Item number three. Announcements. Please, please sit down. And if you have the need for further discussions to that outside the room. Announcements concerning the coordinators recommendations just right before this meeting. First of all, um, there will be a report and coordinators agreed that the chairman is the rapporteur for the report on the Framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission. Secondly, rules on the appointment of EP representatives to the management boards or other positions of the EU agencies and bodies. Coordinators agreed that a change in the rules of procedure is necessary and that the chair shall act as rapporteur of the report and coordinators shall be nominated. No, that is done in the working, um methods already. Um, rules on parliamentary immunity. Coordinators exchanged views and agreed to organize a joint Yuri coordinators meeting to discuss the matter. Supported by the expertise of the Legal service, coordinators decided on two new initiative reports, namely first, reinforcing democratic accountability and enhancing Parliament's political control over the Commission, and second, enhanced EU decision making through means foreseen in the EU treaties.”
  EU political integration
• “Okay, then, item number eight, institutional aspects of artificial intelligence in the context of the European integration. Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to open today's workshop on the institutional aspects of artificial intelligence in the context of EU integration, which forms part of our preparatory work for an upcoming own initiative report in Afco. With the entry into force of the AI act, a new institutional landscape is emerging alongside the AI office at EU level and in accordance with article 70 of the AI act, the Member States have established, or indeed are still in the process of designing, designating national competent authorities and at least one market surveillance authority. Today, we hope to gain a clear understanding of how this system works in practice. Is cooperation between EU and national bodies functioning effectively? Does the framework provide clarity and coherence for companies, consumers and innovators? How can we apply AI in legislative processes, and how can AI be used to improve alignment between EU and national legislation, for example, to identify where national law must be prepared? I'll now give the floor to Mr. Thierry Boulanger, deputy head of the Artificial Intelligence regulation and Compliance Unit, director general for communications networks, Content and technology of the European Commission. The floor is yours.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “Last week, the lawyer linguists from the two institutions concluded the technical revision, and the final text was informally communicated by myself and Behandlung and myself. Bernd Lange is in was negotiating together with us in his capacity as chair of the C.c.c., and was the second negotiator on behalf of Parliament. I would like to thank him. It was a very good cooperation and I think, um, Bernhard Langer is such an experienced colleague that we really reached a lot because of having him on board. Currently, we are waiting for the official notification of the text from the competent unit of the Parliament, which is imminent, and this gives me also the chance to thank all our staff members. Our task force was led by Guillaume McLaughlin. It was a great work, what you have done and we would haven't come so far with this agreement. Also the breakthrough in the end. So thank you very much for all your work you have done, and it was a tremendous work, starting with an evaluation. And also from time to time negotiations were quite difficult. Um, once officially received, Afco will be able to start examining the framework agreement and draft a report for which I have the honour to be the rapporteur. Now we'll do a round of coordinators, and then I will give the floor to Mr. Forte, the director of interinstitutional relations at the secretariat-general of the European Commission, who was also very helpful. Thank you very much, all of you who supported this process. And now the floor is open for Laurent Vincent, for the EPP.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “They are clear. Second, Afco and Yuri will send a joint letter to the Cop seeking authorisation for a joint Afco report on implementation of the relevant rules and the lessons learned from the 2024 Commissioner designate confirmation hearings. That will organize the following missions in 2026 a mission to Copenhagen, Denmark and a mission to Greenland, both during the Green Week 14 in March. B a mission to the United States and the United Nations during the Green Week. 30 in July. C a mission to Norway, Spitzbergen and Iceland during the second semester of 2026. The fourth Afcoe will request the policy Department to carry out the following three studies in 2026, namely a evaluation of the track record of the Committee of the regions as guardian of the principle of subsidiarity. B assessing the democratic accountability of the Commission, EU agencies and the use of delegated and implementing acts. C accession instruments as pathways for treaty evolution. Limitations and potential. And finally, the an update of the study on the EP Rite of Inquiry. Fifth Afco will invite the following experts to the joint Afco CD hearing on institutional aspects of the Common European Defence Union, taking place on 24th February, namely, first Admiral Cesareo Ciocca and Doctor Claudia Mayer and Mr.”
  EU political integration
• “This is the added value. We must ask the Commission for doing so, and we must simply use this right which is now which we fought for. Finally, the presence of commissioners. The revised agreement grants Parliament the right to request the presence of commissioners in plenary and committee sessions. This provision will reinforce accountability with the EU's institutional framework. But I must also tell you, colleagues, that the big wish of the Commission, particularly also the Commission President, is when the Commission is present in plenary. It is appropriate that some members are present in plenary as well. This is a little bit a weakness of the European Parliament, which we put on ourselves, and I have several proposals. Maybe we can soon also talk in this committee about how to improve the presence in plenary, which would make us stronger as an institution. Do you have comments? Questions? If this is not the case, then not for the text itself, but for the. Yes, please.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thank you very much. So now we had have had an inspiring keynote speeches and have set the scene, so to say. We will now continue with a tradition which we established in the Constitutional Affairs Committee recently. I would say, namely that we connect the interparliamentary Parliamentary Committee meeting always with a report so that you, as members from national parliaments, have really an influence on our report, and the rapporteur will listen carefully. I think we have done that once, and this is the second time today in the history of the European Parliament in relation with national parliaments. And I think it makes sense, so that I'm very happy that many colleagues from national parliaments are present here. Thank you for having been here. Thank you. And Yes.”
  EU political integration
• “So, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, Madam president, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, dear colleagues, members of national parliaments, distinguished guests, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this Interparliamentary Committee meeting on the institutional aspects of artificial intelligence in the context of the European integration. Let me give a special welcome to the president of the European Parliament sitting next to me, Miss Roberta Metsola, who has graciously accepted to join us to open this event. So welcome. Will be later joined very soon by Executive Vice President for Tech sovereignty, security and democracy. And let me welcome a special warm welcome. He just arrived yesterday from New York. The United Nations Under-Secretary general and Special envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, Mr. Amardeep Singh Gill, who will deliver today's keynote speech on the international cooperation in the field of AI. Very warm welcome here in the European Parliament. Thank you very much for your presence and participation at this meeting. Please allow me to provide you with some practical information. First, I'd like to inform you that automatic transcription and translation is available. You can scan the QR codes on posters and select the channel with the language being spoken. Following the open remarks, opening remarks, and the keynote speech, we will hold an exchange of views on our own initiative report. The floor will be open to the rapporteur, the shadow rapporteurs, members of the European Parliament and all invited members of national parliaments.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “So maybe the colleague from the Greens will ask a follow up question on the ethics body, namely how you see the situation that according to the current agreement, the Council has the right to set the standards but is not bound by it. But okay. The floor to Daniel Freud from the Greens.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Leoluca Orlando, please. So any further comments, requests, interventions? No. And then I think we also agreed that we will have, um, the draft report sent to translation in February in March. Consider the draft report and have a hearing on democracy and elections in the AI era. Then we will have in April the Interparliamentary Committee meeting, where it is a topic 21st of April, would be the deadline for amendments. And um, uh, the vote would then take place in the committee on the 2nd of September and in plenary in October. Perfect. Thank you very much. Item number ten of commission to Sarajevo. A six member delegation visited Bosnia and Herzegovina from the 5th to the 7th of November. The mission focused on the constitutional set up and the complex institutional system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The detailed mission report is available in the meeting documents. I could not participate and was replaced by the vice chair, Adrian Vazquez Lazara, who informed me that he doesn't feel well today. Which means I don't know whether you have any comments to this report. Otherwise I. Yes, please.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “So, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat that we can proceed. So our colleague, um, for item number six is not yet here, but she will arrive soon. I would propose that we proceed with item number seven, namely the framework agreement on relations between Parliament and the Commission. The revised Framework Agreement, which we negotiated, represents, in my opinion, a significant institutional advance for Parliament if we use it. It reinforces Parliament's indirect right of initiative, clarifies the conditions governing the Commission's use of article 122 of the treaty on the functioning of the EU, and enhances accountability by ensuring the presence of commissioners in plenary and committee meetings when requested. Maybe, um, to be a bit more precise on Parliament's right of initiative under article 225, I still find it surprising that the European Parliament officially in the treaties doesn't have the right of initiative, but it is using it quite successfully, and most national parliaments have it, but don't use it. That is an interesting situation or phenomenon. On article 122, for the first time, the framework agreement codifies the use of article 122, originally designed as an emergency clause under the revised text. Article 2nd May only be invoked in exceptional circumstances like it is written in the treaties whereby the Commission, and this is, I think, the advancement and what we could reach, that the Commission must provide an immediate justification and must conduct an assessment of the legal act.”
  EU political integration
• “This exchange of views will be followed by a discussion on the two panels of today's meeting, namely, first, the horizontal parliamentary cooperation in AI and second, the democratic safeguards in the European Union, electoral integrity and institutional evolution. Ladies and gentlemen, this meeting is part of the artificial intelligence days, with national parliaments hosted for the first time by the European Parliament to exchange on policy approaches and best practices. I think we agree that artificial intelligence is no longer just a technological issue. It is fundamentally reshaping how we make laws and how we take decisions. Colleagues, for us as legislators, one central question, in my opinion, is pivotal. How can we become more responsive? Because responsiveness in a multi-level system is not easy, as you know. When we change legislation at the European level, where change is already far more complex than at the national level, implementation does not follow automatically and it is difficult. When we speak about primary law, the treaties, it's nearly impossible to change them. And also, when we speak about secondary law, regulations and directives take directives. Nothing changes on the ground until national lawmakers and national laws are adopted. So today, the real challenge, in my opinion, is often not to create new rules. There we are very strong.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “Thank you. Yeah. Thank you very much, colleagues. Thank you very much. To our distinguished experts. I think it was a good start. We had a debate and a discussion. That is also the reason that we are running out of time. Those colleagues from the Afco Committee, I would like you to go immediately to room 4001 for the voting. I thank you, and the hearing is closed.”
  EU political integration
• “Overstepping my competences, if I may add, because this is a public meeting and I'm defending the rule of law as long as I live, there is this article 218, paragraph five, which gives the Council the right to authorise the signing of an international agreement and decide on its provisional application before the agreement enters into force. So the political dimension is somehow different, but it would be in line with the treaties if the Council would decide, together with the Commission, to apply this agreement provisionally. Next, speaker. It's just a remark. Um. Renew. Sandro Gozi, please.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. Okay, now we will follow with speakers from the European Parliament. And then we, we switch all the time, one speaker from the European Parliament and then two speakers from national parliaments, starting with Lauren Windsor from the EPP Group of the European Parliament.”
  EU political integration
• “Okay. Yeah. Minister, there are several dossiers in the field of competence where we look forward to seeking action by the council. That is, of course, the article 48 report. I don't know whether you can motivate your colleagues to feel a little bit more appetite on treaty reforms. Now, when we have seen that maybe treaty reforms are needed to enhance the capability to act for the European Union on the global stage, we would be secondly, interested in the presidency's position on Parliament's right of inquiry. That is also a very long lasting file where we would like to see maybe the breakthrough during your presidency and finally not finally. But the third topic is that, of course, interested to hear about the state of play on the negotiations of the EU's accession to the European Convention of Human Rights. I'll now give you the floor for round about 15 minutes, and then we will ask colleagues to ask questions or give comments and they will have usually two minutes each. And then we proceed in a ping pong system that you have the chance to answer or react on the questions or comments. Minister, the floor is yours. Thank you very much for being here.”
  EU political integration
• “Yeah, thank you very much. I think that those colleagues who would like to take the floor also maybe raise their voice on the proposed postponement. I think there's a justification if we have this AI for good in July, and we have the trip to New York in July as well, and then there's a good justification to postpone the vote in Afco behind that, meaning 2nd September would be the proposal, and then we would have different deadlines than originally planned. Who would like to take the floor? Um.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Is there any speaker for the SD? Is there any speaker who would like to take the floor on this agreement? If that is not the case, then we can proceed to agenda. Agenda. Item seven implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the EU legal framework. Our rapporteur is Alessandro Zan. Oh, sorry. Sorry sorry sorry, sorry. I announced it already and now I forgot to give you the floor. Enrico Forti, the Director of Inter-Institutional Relations in the Secretariat of the Commission. Please. You have the floor.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, 100 days of the EU Commission. It's time to take stock. We have a shift in vision, a change in course. The fact that the left in this house is not happy makes me happy. You thought that the whole of democracy had been left behind, and this left illiberal course would go on, would continue rather. But that's changed. Now. We're going to focus on what's needed security, competitiveness. And that's good because overregulation and excessive red tape has hampered the EU, stopping it from achieving its full potential. The central question is, firstly, do we need regulation? And secondly, is the regulation achieving our objectives in the area of the Green Deal and many other regulations, Europe has been lagging behind as a result. So very good. Congratulations on the omnibus package. We have created 13,000 rules in the last five years. The US has got by buy with 3000. So we need to wake up to what we need in Europe. Being competitive and create a defence sector so we can defend ourselves.”
  Climate efforts
• “I think that is really a problem which you address that sometimes it really comes down to how rules are applied and interpreted. And there are also really huge differences in different member states, as you mentioned. Also that, um, clicking away the cookies really drives people in Europe crazy. We must change that. And then there was a colleague who was working ten years ago on this E-privacy directive, where I was told that it comes from there, and he said, it's an application and interpretation of the directive. It is not necessary. Companies do it, but it would already, without an amendment or a change of this directive, be possible. Because really, these are the small things which which, um, lead to a situation that the acceptance of the European Union is really decreasing more and more. Also, I mean, we passed here on election, on advertising, political advertising. This is such an awful regulation that people have approached me saying, we here are really doing everything to to lose public acceptance of the European Union. And I must admit, when I read this regulation, it's crazy what we have decided here some years ago, and we really must have a system, and I hope that I can help us in the future, that there is a better responsibility and that we can really amend, revoke existing EU law with AI and not to to keep in mind that when we have the majority here and the will to change a directive, that doesn't mean that the law in the member States is adapted to it. Maybe they don't even realise that we have done it and it's still in in the law. I hope you're really that with AI will will help us to be more coherent, and also to ring an alarm bell in national parliaments when we have amended a directive which is also not very often the case. Okay. Our rapporteur, you have the final word for today before we are heading off to London.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you very much. So now we have shadow rapporteurs who would like to take the floor, I think, and we start with the colleague from the Socialists and Democrats, Vytenis, Povilas and Loukaitis, please. Thank you. Thank you. I think we agreed.”
  EU political integration
• “Steven Blackman will be short listed if one of the two mentioned first can not make it. Six Afco will seek authorization for a hearing on EU governance limitations within the geopolitical framework. That was a proposal of our colleague from volt. And finally, Afco will invite the Secretary General of NATO, Marc Richer, to an exchange with the committee in February on the EU institutional responses to the transatlantic security situation. Unless there are any objections. The coordinator's recommendations are deemed to be endorsed. Then we have to adopt the minutes from November and December. If there are no comments, I declare the minutes adopted. Yes. And now I have the pleasure of welcoming. And it's a real pleasure of welcoming miss Marielena Rauna, Deputy Minister for European Affairs of Cyprus, who will present to us the priorities of the presidency in the Council. We have been invited in January already with the Cosac and I was there. It was excellent, very well organized and we very much appreciated. All 27 speakers appreciated very much your program also content wise and perfect organization. And you promised that in March when we will come back again, the weather will be better than this time because it was raining and that we didn't expect from Cyprus. But beside the weather, everything was perfect and at the coast it was sunny.”
  EU competences on foreign affairs
• “And there is one situation which is not very much used by the European Parliament, that we also could come up with a proposal to amend, revoke or amend existing files and existing regulations and directive. This is not very much used, but I think we should also work on that for the benefit also of the acceptance of our union. I think we have been very successful on the negotiations concerning article 122, which is the legal basis. The framework agreement clarifies the use of article 122. Originally designed as an emergency clause, but recently more and more used by the European Commission, including next generation EU programme. Article 120 2nd May only be invoked in exceptional circumstances. That is already written in the treaty whereby the Commission must provide. This is now the text of the Framework Agreement, an immediate justification, and must conduct an assessment of the legal act. And finally, I may point out that the revised agreement grants Parliament the right to request the presence of commissioners in plenary and committee sessions. But here's a clear wish of the Commission and the Commission president herself that members are really present in plenary. Sometimes we have the situation that the president or the vice president is sitting there together with the commissioner, and the rest is empty. I think we should work on that. I'm trying in my own group to have a kind of a nudging that colleagues are more present and a schedule where the groups expect colleagues to be present, because this is not the best picture we give.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “So it is very important that we and we are the Committee of the Rule of Law. Also, we are the committee which has to guarantee that the rules in our own house are always followed. And again, the competence conflict is a is not a political choice. It's not a political decision. It's a legally binding matter, which directly comes from the rules of procedure and is or could be subject to judicial review. Few, few. As I decided in the benefit report and in the report, I will do in any other report, because if we are not credible in implementing our own rules, how can we be against the rest of the world or against Member States in which we have problems with following the rule of law? Now I give the final word for concluding remarks to the rapporteur, and then I really urge you to keep this in mind. What I just said in the next shadows meeting.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “So, colleagues, item item number six. A very important agreement. The framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission. Could you please maybe stop your bilateral talks? A provisional agreement on the revision of the framework Agreement on Relations between Parliament and the Commission was reached on 9th September. The Revised Framework Agreement presents, in my opinion, a significant institutional advance for Parliament. It reinforces Parliament's indirect or de facto, maybe right of initiative, clarifies the conditions governing the Commission's use of article 122 on the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, and enhances accountability by ensuring that commissioners appear in plenary, with the hope that members are present as well and committee meetings when requested. Maybe I should focus on two things or three, maybe on, first of all, Parliament's right of initiative under article 225 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, it is interesting to note, colleagues, that officially, legally in the treaties, the European Parliament does not have the right of initiative. However, the de facto situation is quite different if we compare to, for example, national parliaments who have the right of initiative initiative in the German Federal Parliament, for example, they never use it. And we used it last term 26 times, and the European Commission came up with 25 proposals. This is why I'm talking about a de facto right of initiative. And the commission president in her speech went very far, always that if there is a certain majority of Parliament with proposals where we can come, where the Commission should come up with new legislative files, that she will, uh, come up with a proposal.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. And then I declare with this word the Afco, the Afco Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina report endorsed. We had another mission to London beginning of December, um, with uh, and we should also consider this report. Six members visited London on two days. The purpose of this delegation to London was to engage with members of the UK Parliament on matters of standards in public life, the application of the Code of Conduct, the role of advisory bodies for members and other issues related to the application of relevant parliamentary rules in the UK. I'd like to thank all our interlocutors for the insightful exchange of views and for the informative meetings. Informative meetings also. Um, I would like to thank everyone who contributed. In particular, I'd like to extend our gratitude to the head of the External Liaison Office, Miss Lina Maria Lynas. And I think it's very important that we have this office there. It's very well. Um, the collaboration was really excellent, and she helped us a lot to find interlocutors. The governmental and parliamentary liaison office in London is really, uh, Miss Sanaa. Um. I don't know, and of course, Joao Rodrigues, our staff member in the secretariat. It was already the second mission which you perfectly organized. And it was very. We really got insights and I learned a lot. Most maybe for me beside. For example, the fact that they are a little bit more advanced and experienced in all those topics, more reasonable maybe, than we sometimes act here with reporting obligations of who we meet.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “And so that doesn't exist there. And of course it doesn't, because it's normal for a member of Parliament that he or she meets people from NGOs, from lobby others. It's very normal. This is the main, one of the main parts of our job, besides voting and working on files. Why should we report that? But okay. And what I was fascinated about is the Commissioner for standards, who sees one of his main tasks to protect members of Parliament against false accusers when he thinks that it is a false accuse and then it goes into the procedure. But that was quite interesting to see. Sometimes I have the impression today one colleague said that we had many scandals. My impression is that we have many issues and not so much scandals in the end, but okay. The detailed mission report is in the meeting documents. If you have no further comments, then I declare also this report of the Commission to London endorsed. Any other business? If there is no any other business, I declare this committee meeting closed. I would like to thank our interpreters and the Secretariat for their support. And I wish you all a pleasant evening.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Madam president, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we're all talking about the crazy tariff policy of Donald Trump, and rightly so. But there's one tool that we have in our hands, and those are the actual tariffs in the EU that we can get rid of, that we impose on ourselves. The European single market is the foundation of our economy. Nevertheless, left incomplete to to date, instead of a single market, as people have been saying, we've got 27 rules insolvency, taxation, other things all at national level. And growth just becomes and runs out into the sand of red tape. So if we see China and expansion, new treaties, new obstacles, the we know that these differences Constitute obstacles within our economy 44% for goods and 110% for services. So we need to have an optional company law. Uh, looking at the details, it is important, but we need to make progress. But we need to convince the council that this is high time when we finally implement this.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “It is to keep them coherent across different levels and to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. Burdens bureaucratic burdens that slow things down and reduce effectiveness. This is where artificial intelligence, in my opinion, can make a real difference. Ai can help us detect inconsistencies, identify risks of fragmentation early, and show us where action is needed. It can simplify procedures, reduce administrative effort, and ease the burden on those who apply our laws in practice. In doing so, it can strengthen our ability to anticipate, to respond and to govern coherently. Of course, ladies and gentlemen, this potential comes with clear conditions. Human oversight must remain essential. Ai must support democratic decision making, never replace it, and never obscure it. If we get this right, AI can become a powerful tool making the union's legislative process more responsive, more coherent, less burdensome, and more capable of delivering on its own rules. And this places a particular responsibility on the European Parliament. We want to be the leading parliament in the world. And for that reason, madam President, your presence today reflects the importance of this debate for the institutional role of Parliament. You have consistently, consistently emphasized the need for Parliament to remain at the heart of European democracy, including in the digital age. And for that reason, I very warmly welcome you, Madam President. The floor is yours.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “(16:17:59 – 16:25:15): Thank you. From a perspective of fundamental rights, age verification is deeply problematic. It's driving attention away from the real cause of the problem, which is the fact that platforms want to keep users stuck to their phone, stuck to their app all the time even if it comes at the cost of polarizing, shocking, or addictive content. The real problem is not how early they they they have access to the app, but how bad these apps are for them. Great. This is exactly what the DSA is supposed to do, mitigate this kind of risk. Force platforms to adapt their their design, their business model, even if it comes to that as we see in the TikTok preliminary preliminary findings. If risks are duly mitigated, there is no need to exclude young young people from online platforms or other services. If we take the reverse of that, if we removed young people, we also removed the incentives that platforms have to ensure safety for young people and other users on their platform, Especially in a context where lawmakers are trying to avoid the regulatory burden, avoiding the unnecessary red tape, I'm not sure why we're adding more rather than trying to enforce and protect the DSA and the GDPR, which are being watered down through other other legislative procedures, the omnibus. Unless the DSA enforcement proves impossible, which we need to give time to, it is disproportionate to ban or exclude young people from the start. Young people, as was pointed out by Kai, do want to access online spaces and other other spaces. Why? Not because it's mere entertainment, but because for many of them, it's really important for the life, for the community they built, for the people they find. It's it can be a lifeline, and we want to cut them off of that rather than make it safe for them difficult. They will want to bypass whatever measures we put because it's not about smoking tobacco as we heard the com the commission compared to. It's about exercising your fundamental rights. And young people, believe it believe it or not, they do have fundamental rights, and they need to be ensured and protected, not restricted. Speaking of them, young people don't want top down oppressive and restrictive measures. They want to be empowered. They want to be growing autonomous into adulthood. They want to grow resilient. And I know because I was involved in the collaboration of a piece with with young people with which was signed by 16 national youth councils and 11 youth organizations represent representing marginalized groups such as LGBT youth, disabled youth, racialized youth. To quote them, allow me to quote them, when we understand the reasoning behind safety measures and are given meaningful choices, we are far less likely to resist or bypass them. In any case, we do not want a future where our rights are overridden for our own good or where online participation depends on one's ability or willingness to provide identification documents or biometrics. As you see in China, Korea, Australia, more than 2 thirds of youth bypass age restrictions. Not because the age restrictions are badly designed. They will always be badly designed. It's because we're cutting them off from something that's important to them. It will happen even with the best, most privacy preserving app if it comes to that, if if it if the commission delivers what it's pitched. Because as we as we heard, yes, the commission itself acknowledges that a parent can give, access to, age content app, content sorry, educated content or applications to their child. But it's not only the the parent who can. It's an uncle, an older sibling, a cousin, a random person in the streets. I could go to the school of my young bro young brother and do the age verification for many of their friends. No 1 would know because the the commission wants the app to be trusted. Otherwise, we run into mass surveillance. Well, this is what we get. We either get mass surveillance or an app which allows its own circumvention by design. We need to be aware of what we are educating young people from. Social media, interpersonal communications apps like WhatsApp, AI. It the the the the the list grows fast. When it comes to WhatsApp and other interpersonal communications apps, that's already in scope of a proposal, which is called the child sexual abuse regulation, which, is in Sri Lanka's currently. And the risk there is that we're not just edge gating social media. We we edge gate app stores. We edge gate WhatsApp, Signal, other tools like that. That's why in the parliament position on that file, as you probably know, the parliament's position is to make a trification optional rather than mandatory and to put in place safeguards, strong safeguards. But safeguards, technical safeguards, they they don't ensure proportionality. Everybody is still suspect until proven innocent, until proven adults with age verification, And young people will still be excluded, but not only them. Also, every person who doesn't have ID documents, every person who doesn't doesn't have a smartphone with an NFC chip, people who don't have digital literacy, lots of people beyond children will be incapable of bypass of of of jumping through the hoops of the hrefification. Lastly, to conclude, this is about, an app, but there will be 27 apps, which may or may not follow what the commission wants them to do. They may know they may not, be as privacy preserving as they want as we all want them to do. That's very problematic. And we might think, oh, but the EID wallet will solve that. It's will it is regulated in a way that is privacy preserving. However, if you look at the implementing acts of the of the EID wallet You should be concluding. Yes. I'm clocking concluding. Thank you. The implementing acts, show that the commission is adding the processing of biometric data, which was not foreseen in the regulation, which was actually taken out of the text in the trialogues. And the commission is also weakening the principles of linkability, which instead of being prevented, now needs to be hindered. There are other grounds. I'll stop here. I'll welcome your questions. Thank you. Thank you. And I give the floor now to, missus Julia Torqueo, again for 5 minutes. The floor is yours, Mrs. Torqueo. Good afternoon. I'll try to be concise as possible. Thank you.”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• “And finally, coordinators decided on an implementation report with a title evaluation of the track record of the Committee of the regions as guardian of the principle of subsidiarity. If there are no comments on the minutes of the meeting on the 4th of November, I declare the minutes adopted, and then we can come to the vote on the report. Reform of the European Electoral Act. Hurdles to ratification and implementation in the Member States before we proceed to the vote. Let me briefly recall why this implementation report matters. Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, the 2018 reform of the European Electoral Act has still not entered into force, as one member state has yet to complete the required national notification. This report before us takes stock of the current situation, identifies the legal and political obstacles that continue to delay the entry into force of the act, and sets out Parliament's expectations for renewed engagement. A total of 104 amendments were tabled to the draft report. The rapporteur drafted and negotiated with the political groups a set of five compromise amendments covering the majority of the text of the report. On behalf of the rapporteur, Laurent Vinci from EPP asked me to receive the floor for two minutes, please.”
  EU political integration