European Union

Written by Zsolt G. Pataki.

The fifth-generation mobile network (5G) is not just a performance booster for current mobile communication networks, but is also a technology enabling the convergence of communication networks with another fundamental block of the digital era – computing. 5G technology is defined by a complex ecosystem, composed of heterogeneous stakeholders, technologies, methodologies and best practices.

On the one hand, this ecosystem offers new opportunities for digitalisation, a key reason for which 5G technology is envisaged as providing a cornerstone of European resilience and as one of the seven flagship areas of the European Recovery and Resilience Facility. On the other hand, the complexity of this ecosystem poses unexplored security and privacy concerns, risks and challenges that might threaten the feasibility of the future development of 5G. These issues, along with a possible lack of awareness about them, are factors that might lead to serious vulnerabilities regarding personal data and sensitive information. Protecting information is essential for EU citizens’ security and privacy. Information leaks can severely damage the European Union: 5G network security has become an intense battlefield between Western countries and China, where some of the main providers of 5G network equipment are established.

In this context, and in addition to two earlier studies on the impact of 5G (on human health and on the environment respectively), the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA)commissioned another important study. This study aims at identifying the risks that the deployment of 5G technology could pose to EU citizens’ privacy, security, and businesses, and exploring their potential implications.

The unrivalled capability and flexibility of 5G have been made possible by a decades-long process of convergence between computing and telecommunications. Their merger brings to light a new ecosystem, where telecommunications and computing collaborate to enable new scenarios, and where stakeholders can extend their business offering and compete with each other. Throughout this epochal shift, a wide debate around privacy and security has unfolded. The complexity of the 5G ecosystem requires a deep insight into its main components, and especially into how the components affecting privacy and security interact with each other. To this end, the authors of the study performed an impact assessment based on a research conceptual map divided into four categories (privacy, security, technologies, ethics/politics), focused on the identification and analysis of the new potential risks, challenges and opportunities that 5G technology entails with respect to privacy and security.

On this basis, they formulated a set of policy options for potential enhancements of the next releases of technical specifications and regulations, organised into three dimensions (privacy, security and ethics):

• The policy options for mitigating privacy risks and challenges include, inter alia, that any organisation involved in the EU 5G ecosystem should establish a controller or a processor and should encourage its own legal departments to perform a transfer impact assessment (TIA). A potential alternative path would be to adopt a hybrid approach where personal or sensitive data is stored locally, close to and within an individual’s national boundaries (edge cloud) and less-sensitive data is stored in the cloud. Adopting a personal data wallet – a digital area where individuals can access data, provide consent and receive notifications – could be considered as a fundamental tool for exercising the rights to privacy and data protection. New European legislation will also have to monitor the evolution of the privacy issue in the next specifications and deployments of 5G technology, and ensure data sovereignty, as the 5G ecosystem requires the cooperation of several stakeholders located worldwide.
• Options to reduce security risks and challenges include network softwareisation and flexibility, with standard rules and procedures to be considered for reducing ambiguities between network components, monitoring the evolution of multiconnectivity, and accelerating cybersecurity standards – as existing cybersecurity guidelines are implemented by service and component providers in line with their internal procedures, 5G should adopt common standards for cybersecurity.
• Ethics risks and challenges may be related to a lack of citizen awareness of the impacts of 5G on ethical issues. More democratic access to adequate information on 5G ethics impacts should be provided. Awareness and critical thinking should be nurtured in the context of digital and data literacy within lifelong education projects, as well as in schools. A tailored regulatory framework for applied ethics in 5G (in the same way as there are other kinds of applied ethics, such as AI ethics, roboethics, etc.), may be needed at the EU level. The accountability, trustworthiness and reliability of 5G and related technologies (e.g. AI, IoT, robotics, etc.) has to be considered in the regulatory framework governing the implementation of 5G verticals (e.g. eHealth, smart cities, energy, etc.).

The STOA Options Brief linked to the study contains an overview of several policy options. Read the full report to find out more, and let us know what you think via stoa@europarl.europa.eu.

Committee and political groups’ meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Written by Clare Ferguson and Katarzyna Sochacka.

With the war in Ukraine high on Parliament’s agenda, the highlight of the March II 2022 plenary session in Brussels was a formal address by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. Members held a debate with the Council and the European Commission on the need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU, in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They also debated the power of the proposed joint European action to secure more affordable, reliable and sustainable energy. Turning to the ‘Suisse Secrets’ scandal, Members debated how to encourage anti-money-laundering standards in third countries. Members also discussed the outcome of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022, and the preparations for the 24‑25 March 2022 meeting. Several legislative files were adopted, inter alia on roaming charges; the cohesion action for the presence of refugees in Europe and use of funds under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) Regulation, both in light of the war in Ukraine; and on the Status Agreement between the EU and Moldova on Frontex operations.

Roaming Regulation

Members debated extending and adapting current EU legislation on roaming charges. In interinstitutional negotiations on the proposal to revise the rules to increase transparency and network quality, Parliament succeeded in capping the wholesale roaming charges at €2 per gigabyte from this year, with a progressive reduction to reach €1 in 2027. Now that the Parliament has adopted the provisional agreement, it goes to the Council for confirmation, before citizens are able to ‘roam like at home‘ for a further 10 years.

Pilot regime for market infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology

Parliament is always keen to encourage technological solutions that benefit citizens in their daily lives. Members debated and adopted, by a large majority, the agreement reached between the co-legislators on a pilot regime developing trading and transactions in crypto-assets – usually known as cryptocurrencies (such as bitcoin and ethereum). Parliament is in favour of encouraging crypto-assets, as long as they do not pose a risk to financial stability, transparency or market integrity, or permit legal loopholes. Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) therefore proposed stricter limits on trading. Market capitalisation will be allowed up to €500 million in shares and issuance of bonds up to €1 billion.

Macro-financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova

Moldova has found itself on the frontline in Russia’s most recent aggression against its neighbours. The country has experienced Russian interference in its own democratic process in recent years, added to an economic downturn exacerbated by the pandemic. Moldova has nevertheless opened its borders to welcome large numbers of Ukrainian refugees. The country enjoys good political and economic relations with the EU, and signed association and free trade agreements with the bloc – Moldova’s largest trading partner – in 2014. The EU has provided €160 million in EU macro-financial assistance since 2017. In response to a Moldovan request for further assistance, the Commission proposed (before the outbreak of the war), to start allocating €30 million in grants and up to €120 million in medium-term loans. Members adopted this proposal by an overwhelming majority.

The fight against oligarch structures, protection of EU funds from fraud and conflict of interest

The Parliament has long stressed that corruption threatens democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law, and undermines citizens’ trust in the EU and its institutions. The sanctions necessitated by Russia’s war on Ukraine have highlighted the presence of Russian oligarchs and oligarchic structures on EU territory. Denouncing the current situation, especially in certain countries where EU funding is sometimes diverted to such persons (and not just Russians), Parliament’s Budgetary Control (CONT) Committee tabled a hard-hitting own-initiative report highlighting the need to protect EU funding against the risks of fraud and conflict of interest. Members debated and adopted a resolution which particularly condemns the use of EU agricultural funding for personal benefit, and warns against the threat to EU values of allowing oligarchs to gain control over the media and the judiciary.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

A number of committee decisions to enter into interinstitutional negotiations were announced: from the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee on the proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability reporting, from the Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) Committees on the proposal for a directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms, and from the ECON committee on the proposal for a regulation on markets in crypto-assets.

Read this ‘at a glance’ on ‘Plenary round-up – March II 2022‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

On Thursday, the representatives of Nato, the EU and the G7 met in Brussels, primarily to discuss their course of action with the war in Ukraine. Ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky had once again asked for heavy weapons. This request will not be fulfilled but the Nato members did agree on massive weapons deliveries to Ukraine. The European press evaluates the summit meeting.

Russia has been trying to subjugate Ukraine since 24 February - so far without success. Millions have fled, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed. Ukrainian cities including Mariupol and Kharkiv have been all but destroyed by Russian air strikes, others such as the capital Kyiv have been badly hit. And peace negotiations still seem a long way off, Europe's press laments.

One aim of the tough sanctions against Russia is also to strengthen domestic opposition to President Putin and sow division in his inner circle. The press asks to what extent this has succeeded.

The British government has approved a new regulation under which EU citizens who are not resident in Ireland will be required to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The government in Dublin has condemned the decision, pointing out that in practice it will lead to stricter border controls for Irish and Northern Irish citizens too - contrary to the long-standing Common Travel Area agreement.