Ah, the summer holidays … sunny beaches, ice creams and limited politics news—though Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has decided to cut his own and his government’s time off to a few low-key days in a bid to work as hard as possible to solve some of the country’s problems.

Under the Italian Presidency, Council of the European Union negotiations for the EU data protection package will resume in September. The Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection will meet on 11 and 12 September to discuss Chapter IV of the Data Protection Regulation (controller and processor) and the right to be forgotten.

Article 29 Working Party guidelines on the right to be forgotten are also expected in autumn after the Working Party met with representatives of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft at the end of July to discuss their practical implementation of the Court of Justice of the EU’s 31 May ruling.   

Though there is no deadline as regards the adoption of the data protection package, commentators are confident that an agreement in council is not far away, as discussions no longer focus on specific details as they did in the past but now tackle the reform as a whole in a more cohesive way. 

Before the summer break, the Italian Ministry for Economic Development also exchanged views with representatives of the next two EU Council Presidencies, Latvia and Luxembourg. The three presidencies agreed on “the need for Europe to push on digital innovation as a boost for growth and job opportunities.”

“Italy considers digital development a priority of its Presidency,” reads a joint statement released after the meeting, “and will work for Europe to speak with one voice on Internet governance, a commitment that will continue in the forthcoming semesters, under the Latvian and Luxembourg Presidencies.” 

In the meantime, happy holidays!