Brussels, 5 December 2023
The EU Council agreed its position (general approach) on a regulation on measures to reduce the cost of deployment of gigabit electronic communications networks (Gigabit Infrastructure Act). It also took stock of the progress in discussions on a regulation laying down measures to strengthen solidarity and capacities in the EU to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents (Cyber Solidarity Act).
Ministers also held a policy debate on technological leadership and competitiveness with a focus on investments in digital networks and infrastructures. Finally, the presidency updated ministers on the state of play of a number of legislative files.
It was a constructive meeting. We agreed our position on a new law for the deployment of high-speed networks, as well as on policy guidelines to promote investments in digital networks and infrastructure with a view to completing the EU’s digital transformation by the end of this decade.
Maria González Veracruz, Spanish secretary of state for telecommunications and digital infrastructures
We took stock of the good progress achieved so far on a landmark proposal to enhance cybersecurity capacities and solidarity across the EU. We will continue to intensively work on this legislative file hoping that we will soon be able to agree a negotiating mandate within the Council and start talks with the European Parliament as soon as possible. On artificial intelligence, the world is watching us. We need to agree on the first international legislation which ensures a human-centred, innovative and safe AI. We will make a careful use of the mandate we got and we hope to have a fruitful and conclusive debate with the European Parliament tomorrow.
Carme Artigas, Spanish secretary of state for digitalisation and artificial intelligence
Gigabit infrastructure act
The Council agreed its position on new rules aimed at reducing the cost of deploying gigabit electronic communications networks (gigabit infrastructure act). The proposal aims to lower the costs of the deployment of very high speed electronic communication infrastructure, partially caused by the permit-granting procedures before deploying or upgrading the networks. The regulation also aims to speed up the deployment of the networks, provide legal certainty and transparency for all economic actors and provide for more efficient planning and deployment processes for operators of public electronic communications networks. In addition, the rules address deployment and access to in-building physical infrastructure.
Ministers concurred that there is an enormous gap between the investments needed to reach the EU’s 2030 connectivity targets and what is currently invested. Noting that administrative procedures for network infrastructure are often long, complex and different across member states, ministers concurred on the importance of the new regulation in harmonising relevant processes and accelerating the EU’s digital transformation to the benefit of citizens and businesses. The Council’s general approach is the negotiating mandate for the presidency to start talks with the European Parliament.
Cyber solidarity act
Telecommunications ministers took note of a progress report on a regulation laying down measures to strengthen solidarity and capacities in the EU to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents. (cyber solidarity act). The main objective of this proposal is to strengthen solidarity at EU level in order to better detect, prepare and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents. The proposal aims to increase the resilience of citizens, businesses and entities operating in critical and highly critical sectors against the growing cybersecurity threats with societal and economic impacts.
Ministers concurred that the regulation would strengthen common EU detection and situational awareness of cyber threats and incidents, reinforce preparedness of critical entities across the EU and strengthen solidarity by developing common response capacities against significant or large-scale cybersecurity incidents. They agreed that work should continue at technical level so that a negotiating mandate for talks with the European Parliament could be reached within the Council as soon as possible.
Digital networks and infrastructure
At the initiative of the presidency and as a follow-up to the exchange of views at the informal telecommunications ministers meeting of 23-24 October 2023 in León, the Council held a policy debate on technological leadership and competitiveness with a focus on investments in digital networks and infrastructure. The relevant public consultation carried out by the Commission concluded that European telecoms operators need scale and agility to adapt to this technological revolution, but are being held back by market fragmentation. Only a few European operators are active across several member states and limitations to a single market in connectivity prevail in the EU. The Commission’s work programme for 2024 indicates that it will prepare the ground for possible policy and regulatory actions on digital networks and infrastructure, notably to facilitate cross-border infrastructure operators in the single market, accelerate deployment of technologies and attract more capital into networks.
In light of the above, ministers acknowledged that the telecommunications sector is facing new challenges and opportunities critical to its competitiveness and sustainability in the medium and long term, due to the convergence between telecommunications and cloud-based software-defined networks, the growing importance of performance and security requirements, the emergence of new dominant actors in the value chain, and the development of new technologies that require considerable investments. As a consequence, ministers concurred that work has to continue to resolve the identified problems and adapt EU regulations to the new context characterised by important geopolitical challenges and rapid technological changes. In this regard, they explored possible measures that should be promoted in the telecommunications market to nurture a sustainable and secure digital environment and guarantee the EU’s digital sovereignty and independence. In the same line, ministers also exchanged views on measures that could be adopted to guarantee the security and resilience of critical submarine cables, including but not limited to governance, regulation and funding.
Any other business
The presidency updated the Council on the state of play of a number of legislative proposals, namely:
- the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA)
- the revision of the regulation on a European digital identity (eIDAS)
- the interoperable Europe act
- the Cyber Resilience Act
- the draft regulation on a targeted amendment of the Cyber Security Act as regards managed security services
The presidency also informed the Council about activities and events in the digital field, including the León ministerial declaration on neurotechnology, and the 4th European artificial intelligence (AI) alliance assembly held in Madrid on 16-17 November 2023.
The Commission informed ministers on the state of play of international initiatives in the digital field with a focus on trade and technology councils and digital partnerships. The Commission also updated the Council on the European data gateways as a key element of the EU’s digital decade ministerial declaration and informed the Council on the 2023 edition of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) world radiocommunications conference (WRC-23).
Finally, the upcoming Belgian presidency presented its priorities and work programme for the first half of 2024.
Meeting information
- Meeting n°3991-1
- Brussels
- 5 December 2023