Dispatch from Brussels: Updates on EU Tech Policy

Well first, an update from Paris, where techUK CEO Julian David and I are attending the Tech7 Summit tomorrow ahead of the G7 Digital Ministerial on Friday, which UK Secretary of State Liz Kendall is expected to attend. The conversations here have been heavily focused on international cooperation, trusted digital infrastructure, AI governance, cybersecurity resilience and economic security in an increasingly fragmented geopolitical environment. Keep an eye out for the Tech7 Declaration, due to be published early tomorrow morning and formally shared with ministers ahead of Friday’s discussions.

One of the clearest examples of Europe’s increasingly assertive sovereignty agenda emerged in Brussels this week around satellite spectrum and secure connectivity. The European Commission has now agreed plans to reserve two thirds of a highly valuable 2GHz satellite spectrum band for European operators once current licences held by US firms Viasat and EchoStar expire in 2027. One block would support the EU’s IRIS² secure connectivity project, another European startups, while a third could remain open to non-European operators. The UK and Norway could potentially still qualify for access under secondary legislation.

Meanwhile, progress on the EU’s Digital Networks Act - the Commission’s sweeping telecoms reform proposal - continues to stall. A new progress report prepared by the Cypriot Presidency confirms that member states remain deeply divided on key reforms around spectrum allocation, implementation costs and the balance between EU-level harmonisation and national competence. Discussions so far have largely consisted of technical workshops rather than substantive negotiations, which reflects the political sensitivity around telecoms reform and national control over spectrum. Work in the European Parliament is also only just beginning, with a draft report not expected until October and final negotiations likely stretching well into 2027.

Looking ahead to the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU next year, Dublin is already signaling that AI adoption, particularly among SMEs, will sit at the center of its digital agenda. Ireland’s AI Minister Niamh Smyth has confirmed plans for a major AI summit in October focused on practical deployment and uptake of AI tools across the wider economy, rather than purely frontier AI debates. At the same time, Ireland will inherit some highly political files including the delayed tech sovereignty package and broader discussions around Europe’s dependence on US technology providers. Smyth has already been careful to frame the debate around “trusted technologies” rather than exclusively “European technologies,” suggesting Ireland may try to position itself as a pragmatic bridge-builder on some of these sovereignty debates.

Separately, industry pressure around the EU’s Digital Omnibus simplification package is intensifying. More than 20 tech industry associations have now warned member states against watering down key simplification measures proposed by the Commission, particularly around GDPR definitions and plans for a single EU-level cyber incident reporting mechanism. Industry is also increasingly concerned about proposed cookie reforms, arguing they could significantly impact parts of the digital advertising ecosystem and broader online economy. The debate is rapidly becoming another test of whether the EU can genuinely deliver on its simplification and competitiveness agenda without reopening deeper political battles around privacy and digital regulation.

Finally, one fascinating piece worth reading this week explores the rise of “digital embassies” - sovereign data vaults hosted abroad to ensure states can continue functioning in the event of cyberattacks, military conflict or catastrophic disruption. Estonia pioneered the concept after years of Russian cyber aggression, storing critical government data securely in Luxembourg under embassy-like protections. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest in the model has accelerated significantly, with digital infrastructure, cloud resilience and sovereign data storage increasingly viewed as core national security capabilities. The idea of “a nation on a hard drive” neatly captures where many of Europe’s digital policy debates are now heading: technology policy is increasingly about resilience, sovereignty and geopolitical leverage.

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