A view from Brussels: What the Commission's Work Programme says about 2027 initiatives

On the face of it, it could be business as usual, but there is a certain gravitas to the moment. The challenges identified by the European Commission are integral to the European project. Defending territorial integrity, building industrial capabilities, tackling the cost of living and battling adversarial narratives will continue to drive the day, as the Commission's 2027 Work Programme states.  

Overall, the Commission is trying to maintain the trajectory it set at the beginning of its term around the pillars of competitiveness, sovereignty and regulatory simplification. That means three priorities: pursuing future-proof digital policy and advancing children's online safety, including through the recent EU Kids Act proposal; building new alliances with trusted partners; and leveraging the Commission's better regulation framework to modernize EU lawmaking while withdrawing a handful of initiatives. 

In the first category, the Commission is planning a "digital transformation package" announcing simplification and copyright measures. That package could tackle several initiatives. The Commission has been working on a "Digital Fitness Check" for 2027. This initiative would go deeper and broader into streamlining the rulebook applicable to the digital economy. It would build on the Omnibus VII, currently under negotiation, that introduces targeted — though at times significant — changes to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, ePrivacy Directive and Data Act primarily. 

The Work Programme also confirms that the Commission might propose initiatives to support AI adoption. First, measures will be directed at five sectors of industrial AI: health, transport, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, and defense and space. Second, actions will be focused on reinforcing the AI tech stack, including chips, data and compute power. The Commission hints at equity and investment actions that may translate into requirements akin to sovereignty measures, as was the case in the cybersecurity space. 

On the third aspect of better regulation, the Commission will work toward a pact against gold-plating. The Work Programme states, "member states should be transparent about any additions they make when bringing EU law into their national rules and about the impact of these additions for businesses and the single market." This pact will be important for the harmonization of the single market and the consistency of rules. 

However, it won't be easy to deliver on as member states understandably cherish their ability to adapt EU rules to their national systems and political priorities. Also, this effort won't be a silver bullet. It won't address the impact of regulators' work on the interpretation and enforcement of rules, which has at times hampered the harmonization effect of European regulations. Lastly, while it would be expected to bring consistency across the region when considering a given law, it does not aim to address the interplay of laws, which has been a multiplying factor for complexity and heterogeneity of rules. 

While much of this has been known for a while, the annex listing legislative proposals the Commission plans to withdraw provides some level of news. Among a rather long list of initiatives ranging from airports to environmental policy, the Commission would be planning the withdrawal of the 2018 proposal on a corporate tax on significant digital presence. 

The Commission does not share its rationale for the withdrawal, but the fact that the proposal has been in deadlock for years is a good enough reason. It could be that if competitiveness measures are successful, more European companies could be caught in scope of digital taxation tools as they grow, which would in turn defeat the purpose. 

This article originally appeared in the Europe Data Protection Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.