Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, also holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months — and it is likely that in that time he will push for the ratification of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The DMA and the DSA are the EU proposals to regulate online platforms by introducing new rules to limit the practices Big Tech companies can engage in and to hold them accountable for the illegal and harmful content that is published in their platforms.
Read More: EU Parliament Approves Digital Service Act Targeting Big Tech
Read More: What makes the EU´s Digital Markets Act Unique
In Europe, the legislative process is complex and relies on three institutions. First, the European Commission proposes legislation on a given topic. Second, the European Parliament discusses the text, introduces amendments and finally votes on the proposed regulation. Third, the Council of the European Union, formed by the government ministers from each EU country, meet to discuss, amend and adopt laws. Therefore, even if the EP votes in favor of a regulation, it still needs to negotiate with the 27 member states to ratify this approval. Here is where the role of the Council is key, to iron out any differences with other national governments. The presidency of the council is rotatory, and it changes every six months to different member states. France is holding the presidency from January 1 to June 30, 2022.
The role of the presidency of the council is also important because it sets the priorities, and it gives an indication of which regulatory proposals are likely to be approved and which ones may be delayed.
For the last two weeks, French ministers outlined the priorities of the Council to parliamentary committees, not only regarding the digital agenda, but also in other areas such as international trade, agriculture, foreign affairs, etc. During these meetings, the French Minister of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communication Cédric O reiterated the will to reach a provisional agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) under the French Presidency.
However, other proposals like the Artificial Intelligence Act and the Data Act may not be ready to be approved during this term.
Macron may be focusing on regulatory initiatives where there is a already consensus and it may be relatively easy to get an agreement at the political level.
One area that is not left out, but it is less likely to see significant developments during Macron´s term, is financial services. New proposals like the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the revision of the payments service directive 2 and other financial and banking regulations will likely take a few months or years before they are approved, partly because for these proposals the EU needs to conduct impact studies before launching any formal proposal.
But political agreement among the European institutions or with member states is not guaranteed. “Lots of fluffy headlines, few concretes measures — Macron´s so called “program” is a disappointment,” said Markus Ferber, member of the European Parliament. “Where the French president did get into the weeds, the proposals translate to overregulation, red tape and more debt. Europe following the “French way” would be bad news for its citizens, business and economy.”
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