Germany teams up with Baltic states in EU digital reform push

Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are set to approach the European Commission with a proposal to reform EU digital policy, with Berlin hoping to benefit from the expertise of the Baltic states who, in turn, want to capitalise on Germany’s clout.

Read the original article in German here. 

German digital minister Volker Wissing met his Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian counterparts in Mainz on Friday (24 November) to present a nine-point plan for reforming EU digital policy.

The proposal to the Commission aims to make digital policy more innovation-friendly ahead of a legislative cycle to start following next June’s European Parliament elections.

“Once we have the new European Commission, we must provide it with a catalogue of requests by the innovation-friendly member states,” said Wissing, adding that this is needed “to make a lot of progress” under the next term.

“We hope to push this now together forward also in the EU context,” said Tiit Riisalo, the digital minister of Estonia, a country often regarded as leading the way in public sector digitalisation.

The nine points of the reform are intended as a counter-proposal to what is being proposed in Brussels – which, as Wissing noted, has drawn criticism from many quarters.

“The better way is to develop proposals once oneself and present it to the Commission and to tell the Commission how digitalisation should work in an innovative and innovation-friendly way,“ Wissing added.

“We take note of the paper by Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We are glad to see that our digital priorities of this mandate were and remain pertinent,” a Commission spokesperson told Euractiv.

“We are happy to engage, and we are glad to see that the undersigned member states acknowledge the need for further action,” the Commission representative added.

Nine-point plan

The nine-point plan calls for a low-burden digital environment for European businesses and consumers and the active involvement of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“We must make data available. […] We have to talk about the responsibility that has to be taken on by platform operators. We have to be innovation-friendly,” said Wissing.

Another aim of the alliance is to promote Europe’s data economy. According to the group, a world-class digital infrastructure is needed to achieve the goal of a ‘digitally transformed Europe’.

The group is also pushing for effective platform regulation, in particular, a trustworthy approach not only to the internet but also to data storage and transmission.

In addition to ensuring effective digital governance, the focus is strengthening the EU’s digital expertise, funding and innovation potential.

Cybersecurity will also be established as a common task.

“We need innovation-friendly regulation considering security concerns,” the German digital minister said. “I think if we have too much regulation, this might damage security,” he added.

Strategic Partnership

For Lithuania’s Digital Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė, Germany is a strategic partner in innovation and digital affairs.

“Germany’s leadership is needed at the European level when we debate these new regulations; when we draft and debate, for instance, the AI act,” said Armonaitė.

Estonia echoed this view. Speaking about digitalising the economy and the industry, “we clearly have much room to look up to Germany and work together to make our industries, our economies, as effective as the German one,” said Riisalo.

With the European Union facing competition from China and the US in particular, the Lithuanian digital minister believes that a leading role for Germany would make Europe even more competitive.

Like-minded partners

The issue of like-minded partners was also raised during the presentation of the reform proposal, including concerning the use of Chinese components in telecommunications infrastructure.

Estonia and other Baltic states have positioned themselves and excluded China as a trustworthy partner regarding critical technologies.

“If you look at the strategic communications infrastructure, we simply don’t have the level of trust we need there,” said Estonia’s digital minister.

In June, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton announced that the Commission would take measures to exclude Huawei and ZTE from its internal networks.

While Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have banned Huawei from participating in developing their 5G grids, Germany fears that a ban could jeopardise trade relations with China.

In September, the German interior ministry proposed forcing telecom operators to restrict their use of equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, Reuters reported.

[Edited by Kjeld Neubert/Luca Bertuzzi/Alice Taylor]

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