The new year started very intensively in Brussels, as negotiators from all EU institutions try to advance as swiftly as possible on new legislation.
With European elections around the corner (20-23 May 2019), the European Parliament (EP) and the European Commission (EC) are quite keen to advance the interinstitutional discussions (‘trilogues’) towards an agreement on open legislatives files. This concerns of course Horizon Europe, where at least four negotiation rounds are foreseen. The discussions are very intense as the three institutions try to consolidate their views and reach an agreement in time. Dan Nica, the EP rapporteur on the Horizon Europe Regulation, already uttered his dissatisfaction with the progress made at the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee meeting of the EP on 23 January. According to an intervention in this meeting, also discussions on the Digital Europe Programme are delaying.
Another controversial file is the Copyright Directive. European research stakeholder organisations have been very active from the start by advocating for a broader exception for text and data mining for research purposes. Provisions in Article 13 to increase the responsibility of internet platforms for content on their sites were spurring controversies, as some fear the introduction of ‘upload filters’. This could become a burden for start-ups basing their business on user-generated content. Research institutions therefore called for larger exceptions, as they fear that also repositories for educational or research purposes could fall under the directive. For article 11, another request to exempt education and research institutions, and allow them to re-use snippets of press publications for non-commercial purposes was voiced. To some extent, the requests have been acknowledged by the European institutions, but still need to be formalised in the trilogue. Beyond the strong activism from research stakeholders, the Council of the EU did not reach consensus over some provisions within the Copyright Directive. This resulted in an interruption of the discussions with the EP and the EC on the file. Despite the trilogue discussions were taken up again, it remains unclear when they will conclude. With the last EP Plenary scheduled in April, it is not clear whether the institutions will be able to solve the remaining issues before a new EP and College of Commissioners are appointed.
The Copyright Directive situation shows how sensitive the discussions are in Brussels at the moment, and how little time there remains to agree on the main open legislative issues at stake. For Horizon Europe, the discussions are of course intense and there still are disagreements. While all parties are clearly striving to reach an agreement in time before the European elections, it is to date still open whether they will be able to do so. Critical voices, already uttered at the end of last year, doubt agreements can be reached before the EP elections.