Is the next dispute in the traffic light coalition and the next German Vote on the EU Packaging Regulation on the horizon? In its European election manifesto, the FDP takes a “very critical” view of its planned design, and Christian Lindner appears ready to enter into conflict with the SPD and Greens again if necessary, following the Supply Chain Directive and truck fleet limits. The ministries involved have long been negotiating controversial measures with which the EU wants to reduce packaging and packaging waste. Steffi Lemke’s Ministry for the Environment is in charge.
So far, the talks have been quite constructive, but nervousness in the houses is growing. An internal memo now states that “according to our information, Italy has made a deal with Lindner”: Rome is helping the FDP leader to obtain a blocking minority in the Council on the Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD), in return for Lindner helping to block the Packaging Regulation. Italy is particularly opposed to the planned bans on single-use packaging (Article 22) and the reusable targets for various sectors and packaging formats (Article 26) and has voted against the negotiating mandate for the current trilogue in the Council.
Germany, on the other hand, voted in favor of the negotiating mandate before Christmas and made its own compromises on the contentious issues. The final trilogue is now due to take place on March 4, just in time to complete the legislative project before the European elections. It is not yet clear whether reusable targets and single-use bans will even make it into the final text: the Parliament had also toned down the Commission’s draft on these points. The Council’s position here is much more ambitious.
The packaging industry and retail companies are sticking to the recycling of disposable packaging. They have been up in arms about the project for months – and may also be pushing at Lindner’s door.
As has so often been the case with EU digital laws in recent years: Formally a regulation and therefore directly applicable European law, the Digital Services Act also requires accompanying national legislation to be fully effective – wherever exclusive national competencies are involved or not. This applies in particular to enforcement. However, some water will still be flowing down the Spree between the Paul Löbe House and the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders House before the Digital Services Act comes into force.
The Bundestag is currently discussing the law, and a hearing of the Digital Committee is planned for Feb. 21. There has been a long dispute about the correct responsibilities within Germany. According to the Government, a new, largely independent body to be set up at the Federal Network Agency will take on the role of coordinator for digital services. Other bodies such as the state media authorities, the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and the Federal Criminal Police Office are to take on further sub-tasks.
This system will still have to be fine-tuned in practice. “The DSA covers so many services that differ in terms of size, user groups or business models that it will be important for the authorities to understand and take this diversity into account”, says Julian Jaursch, DSA expert at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung. “This requires clear points of contact for companies at the authorities.” However, without German law, this is not possible for the time being.
And providers should not wait for this before applying the Digital Services Act. Even if the Telemedia Act will only be superseded by the DDG, the DSA will apply directly as European law starting tomorrow, Saturday. This means that there will be changes, even for those providers that are not among the particularly large platforms. One of these concerns general terms and conditions: Here, providers must ensure greater transparency and provide information that is as comprehensible as possible. They must explain how their algorithms sort content and provide a simplified view of searches without algorithmic sorting, for example by date.
Another obligation is to appoint a contact person in the EU. Anyone who does not have a head office or branch office within the EU must take action here to avoid violating the DSA.
However, Maike Hofmann from the law firm Jun fears that the displacement of the NetzDG would possibly prolong the duration of proceedings for the large platforms – because the DSA would remove the obligation to have a domestic authorized agent for service. This could make “lengthy foreign service of process” necessary in court proceedings, says Hofmann. The Jun law firm regularly represents clients such as the Green politician Renate Künast against social media providers.
“We will definitely test the new tools extensively and check their practicality”, announces Hofmann. One company that was not classified as a particularly large platform is the Telegram platform: This will nevertheless fall under the DSA starting Saturday.
Telegram is then subject to the same obligations as all other services where users can post content for third parties. The providers must provide a moderation mechanism for this per the DSA. This means that users must be able to report any illegal content. And unlike the Network Enforcement Act, this means any form of illegality: Whether copyright, personality rights, attempted fraud or other criminal offenses and legal violations – the operators must check what users report to them. At the same time, however, they must also take into account the rights of the content providers – which is likely to lead to some discussion. A fully automated solution is therefore out of the question here.
However, they do not have to formally report directly to the law enforcement authorities as much as under the NetzDG: the competent authorities only have to be informed if there is a risk to life and limb.
Article 9 of the DSA is likely to be particularly important from Feb. 17. This states that operators must take action in the case of illegal content as soon as a legally binding decision has been made. In other words: If the illegality has already been established, for example by a court, or an order has been issued by the competent authorities, providers will have to act directly. Otherwise, they risk being held jointly liable for content.
This is precisely a lever that the law firm Jun also wants to use: “Irrespective of the NetzDG or DSA, users still have the option of asserting their rights against platform operators under general law”, says Maike Hofmann. And this can also extend beyond the obligations provided for in the DSA itself.
The state media authorities, for example, are getting ready to go. With the Youth Media Protection Act, they already have legally defined options for taking concrete action against providers with the help of Article 9, while the Federal Network Agency has to stand on the sidelines as a spectator in the first few weeks.
However, the cooperation mechanism of the DSA should actually take effect, especially in the case of major and structural problems. However, most countries have not yet appointed a Digital Services Coordinator – not even Germany officially. And so when the committee of DSA enforcement authorities meets for the first time on Monday, it will probably first be a matter of formalities: Rules of procedure need to be drawn up. For the time being, however, Germany’s future representative will only be able to participate informally in the creation of these rules of procedure.
The Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, is calling for the European pillar of NATO to be strengthened. On Thursday evening, at the security policy discussion organized by the Bavarian State Chancellery and the German Atlantic Society in Munich’s Prinz-Carl-Palais, he spoke out in favor of “burden-sharing” between the European NATO states and the USA. According to Heusgen, US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump had already called for Germany to finally achieve the two percent target set by NATO.
“I hope you are satisfied“, said the MSC Chairman, addressing General Christopher G. Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The US-American, who was born in Würzburg in 1964, took up the post four months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Heusgen and the Chairman of the German Atlantic Society, Christian Schmidt, expressly thanked the four-star general for his commitment to Europe.
“NATO at 75 – Are we ready to defend” was the title of the security policy discussion, at which the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also pleaded for greater European participation in the defense of NATO, not least on its eastern flank. The consensus that prevailed on the eve of the actual start of the MSC conference on Friday is also likely to characterize the further discussions at the Bayerischer Hof until Sunday: Regardless of who is president in Washington in a year, Europe must take on more of the military burden.
But not only that. Technologically and economically, the 60th Munich Security Conference is more strongly positioned than probably any before it. Cyber defense and AI are more than just buzzwords in dozens of panels and background discussions on the future of modern warfare. Unlike ten years ago, the conference’s guests include representatives from civilian companies, the World Bank, and UN sub-organizations as well as military personnel, representatives from defense technology companies, diplomats, and politicians.
The Bundeswehr’s Cyber Innovation Hub unofficially kicked off the anniversary conference on Thursday evening: The MSC Innovation Night in the main hall of the Bayerischer Hof was attended by Inspector General Carsten Breuer and Army Chief of Staff Alfons Mais, among others. Lieutenant General Michael Vetter, Head of the Cyber and Information Technology Department at the Ministry of Defense, told Table.Media that the Bundeswehr is well on the way to “making software-based swearing-in a reality”. Even if progress is made more difficult by the fact that the financial and material deficits of the past 25 years have to be compensated for.
The reference to empty coffers is symptomatic not only for the defense industry. Concerning the multitude of global crises, Axel van Trotsenburg refers to the “staying power” that is needed to achieve something like human security for millions of people in fragile states, starting with the fight against rising extreme poverty. The Senior Managing Director of the World Bank points out that the costs for the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine alone, which was attacked by Russia, will amount to around €453 billion over the next ten years. “The longer the war lasts, the higher the costs will be”, van Trotsenburg told Table.Media.
This applies not only to the war in Ukraine, but also to the war in the Middle East. UN Secretary-General António Guterres will address them both when he officially opens the 60th Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof on Friday afternoon. These will not be the only crises that will dominate the discussions in Munich until Sunday.
He already seemed to be retired. But now French President Emmanuel Macron has entrusted Jean-Marie Bockel with a delicate mission as his “personal representative”: He is to explain to those countries in Africa that have received French military bases – Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Chad – “the reasons and modalities of the forthcoming adjustments” to French foreign policy. These are the words of a letter from the French President to Bockel.
Behind the coded formulation is nothing other than the desire for a fundamental new beginning. France had suffered humiliating setbacks in the Sahel, a region that was once considered France’s front yard, the pré carré. Now Macron wants to reorganize the French presence in Africa. With the exception of Djibouti, troop numbers are to be reduced in all countries where the French military still operates. The main features of the restructuring were discussed during a meeting of the Defense Council in December 2023. “It is about building renewed, balanced and mutually beneficial partnerships with African countries that fully represent our interests”, Macron’s letter to Bockel continues.
It is surprising that Macron is not entrusting his Africa advisor Jérémie Robert with this task. He has been in charge of relations with Africa at the Élysée Palace since November 2023. Macron obviously wants to send a strong signal in French-speaking Africa. Bockel stands for a clear rejection of “Françafrique”, this web of mutual dependencies, hidden influence and backdoor politics between France and its former colonies.
It is unforgotten in France how Bockel, as Secretary of State for Development Policy, wanted to bury this tradition. “Françafrique is dying”, said Bockel confidently in an interview with “Le Monde” in January 2008. “I want to sign its death certificate.” Allegedly under pressure from the then-dictator of Gabon, Omar Bongo, the then-President Nicolas Sarkozy moved Bockel to another post two months later. In 2010, Bockel left the government for good.
Sarkozy could have known it. The 73-year-old Alsatian stands for firm convictions. Growing up at the foot of the Vosges mountains in Thann, Bockel studied law and administrative sciences in Strasbourg and joined the Socialist Party in 1973. From 1989 to 2010, he was mayor of Mulhouse, a former Free Imperial City that long belonged to Switzerland and was only annexed by France after the French Revolution. Bockel was a member of parliament and a senator. He also held various offices in different government cabinets.
As a moderate social democrat, Bockel moved away from the left of the party at the end of the 1990s. During the 2006/2007 election campaign, he first supported Dominique Strauss-Kahn and then Ségolène Royal. The former was not allowed to become president, the latter was defeated by Sarkozy. After his election victory in May 2007, Bockel joined Sarkozy’s government.
Bockel’s CV explains why Macron entrusted him with this mission and not the diplomat Robert, who was previously Consul General in New York: on the one hand, the aim is to put the French military presence in Africa on a new footing and, on the other, to mend the broken pieces of a failed Africa policy in the region.
It helps that he advocated a new stance on Africa 17 years ago, knowing full well what this would mean for his political career. Then there is his personal history: Before settling in Thann as a notary, his father was a soldier in the French African Army, which had nothing in common with the colonial troops. During the Second World War, French soldiers fought side by side with African soldiers in the African Army and took part in the advance of US troops into Germany via Italy and the Rhône Valley.
Jean-Marie Bockel is a reserve colonel himself. His son Pierre-Emmanuel took part in Operation Barkhane in Mali as a captain and helicopter pilot. He was killed in December 2019 when his Cougar helicopter collided with another French military helicopter during a night mission. He would have celebrated his 33rd birthday on Feb. 9.
In recent years, Bockel has regularly been seen skiing or hiking in his beloved Southern Vosges. Macron no longer has time for that. Bockel is due to present his recommendations to the president in July. Christian von Hiller
Is the next dispute in the traffic light coalition and the next German Vote on the EU Packaging Regulation on the horizon? In its European election manifesto, the FDP takes a “very critical” view of its planned design, and Christian Lindner appears ready to enter into conflict with the SPD and Greens again if necessary, following the Supply Chain Directive and truck fleet limits. The ministries involved have long been negotiating controversial measures with which the EU wants to reduce packaging and packaging waste. Steffi Lemke’s Ministry for the Environment is in charge.
So far, the talks have been quite constructive, but nervousness in the houses is growing. An internal memo now states that “according to our information, Italy has made a deal with Lindner”: Rome is helping the FDP leader to obtain a blocking minority in the Council on the Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD), in return for Lindner helping to block the Packaging Regulation. Italy is particularly opposed to the planned bans on single-use packaging (Article 22) and the reusable targets for various sectors and packaging formats (Article 26) and has voted against the negotiating mandate for the current trilogue in the Council.
Germany, on the other hand, voted in favor of the negotiating mandate before Christmas and made its own compromises on the contentious issues. The final trilogue is now due to take place on March 4, just in time to complete the legislative project before the European elections. It is not yet clear whether reusable targets and single-use bans will even make it into the final text: the Parliament had also toned down the Commission’s draft on these points. The Council’s position here is much more ambitious.
The packaging industry and retail companies are sticking to the recycling of disposable packaging. They have been up in arms about the project for months – and may also be pushing at Lindner’s door.
As has so often been the case with EU digital laws in recent years: Formally a regulation and therefore directly applicable European law, the Digital Services Act also requires accompanying national legislation to be fully effective – wherever exclusive national competencies are involved or not. This applies in particular to enforcement. However, some water will still be flowing down the Spree between the Paul Löbe House and the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders House before the Digital Services Act comes into force.
The Bundestag is currently discussing the law, and a hearing of the Digital Committee is planned for Feb. 21. There has been a long dispute about the correct responsibilities within Germany. According to the Government, a new, largely independent body to be set up at the Federal Network Agency will take on the role of coordinator for digital services. Other bodies such as the state media authorities, the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and the Federal Criminal Police Office are to take on further sub-tasks.
This system will still have to be fine-tuned in practice. “The DSA covers so many services that differ in terms of size, user groups or business models that it will be important for the authorities to understand and take this diversity into account”, says Julian Jaursch, DSA expert at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung. “This requires clear points of contact for companies at the authorities.” However, without German law, this is not possible for the time being.
And providers should not wait for this before applying the Digital Services Act. Even if the Telemedia Act will only be superseded by the DDG, the DSA will apply directly as European law starting tomorrow, Saturday. This means that there will be changes, even for those providers that are not among the particularly large platforms. One of these concerns general terms and conditions: Here, providers must ensure greater transparency and provide information that is as comprehensible as possible. They must explain how their algorithms sort content and provide a simplified view of searches without algorithmic sorting, for example by date.
Another obligation is to appoint a contact person in the EU. Anyone who does not have a head office or branch office within the EU must take action here to avoid violating the DSA.
However, Maike Hofmann from the law firm Jun fears that the displacement of the NetzDG would possibly prolong the duration of proceedings for the large platforms – because the DSA would remove the obligation to have a domestic authorized agent for service. This could make “lengthy foreign service of process” necessary in court proceedings, says Hofmann. The Jun law firm regularly represents clients such as the Green politician Renate Künast against social media providers.
“We will definitely test the new tools extensively and check their practicality”, announces Hofmann. One company that was not classified as a particularly large platform is the Telegram platform: This will nevertheless fall under the DSA starting Saturday.
Telegram is then subject to the same obligations as all other services where users can post content for third parties. The providers must provide a moderation mechanism for this per the DSA. This means that users must be able to report any illegal content. And unlike the Network Enforcement Act, this means any form of illegality: Whether copyright, personality rights, attempted fraud or other criminal offenses and legal violations – the operators must check what users report to them. At the same time, however, they must also take into account the rights of the content providers – which is likely to lead to some discussion. A fully automated solution is therefore out of the question here.
However, they do not have to formally report directly to the law enforcement authorities as much as under the NetzDG: the competent authorities only have to be informed if there is a risk to life and limb.
Article 9 of the DSA is likely to be particularly important from Feb. 17. This states that operators must take action in the case of illegal content as soon as a legally binding decision has been made. In other words: If the illegality has already been established, for example by a court, or an order has been issued by the competent authorities, providers will have to act directly. Otherwise, they risk being held jointly liable for content.
This is precisely a lever that the law firm Jun also wants to use: “Irrespective of the NetzDG or DSA, users still have the option of asserting their rights against platform operators under general law”, says Maike Hofmann. And this can also extend beyond the obligations provided for in the DSA itself.
The state media authorities, for example, are getting ready to go. With the Youth Media Protection Act, they already have legally defined options for taking concrete action against providers with the help of Article 9, while the Federal Network Agency has to stand on the sidelines as a spectator in the first few weeks.
However, the cooperation mechanism of the DSA should actually take effect, especially in the case of major and structural problems. However, most countries have not yet appointed a Digital Services Coordinator – not even Germany officially. And so when the committee of DSA enforcement authorities meets for the first time on Monday, it will probably first be a matter of formalities: Rules of procedure need to be drawn up. For the time being, however, Germany’s future representative will only be able to participate informally in the creation of these rules of procedure.
The Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, is calling for the European pillar of NATO to be strengthened. On Thursday evening, at the security policy discussion organized by the Bavarian State Chancellery and the German Atlantic Society in Munich’s Prinz-Carl-Palais, he spoke out in favor of “burden-sharing” between the European NATO states and the USA. According to Heusgen, US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump had already called for Germany to finally achieve the two percent target set by NATO.
“I hope you are satisfied“, said the MSC Chairman, addressing General Christopher G. Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The US-American, who was born in Würzburg in 1964, took up the post four months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Heusgen and the Chairman of the German Atlantic Society, Christian Schmidt, expressly thanked the four-star general for his commitment to Europe.
“NATO at 75 – Are we ready to defend” was the title of the security policy discussion, at which the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also pleaded for greater European participation in the defense of NATO, not least on its eastern flank. The consensus that prevailed on the eve of the actual start of the MSC conference on Friday is also likely to characterize the further discussions at the Bayerischer Hof until Sunday: Regardless of who is president in Washington in a year, Europe must take on more of the military burden.
But not only that. Technologically and economically, the 60th Munich Security Conference is more strongly positioned than probably any before it. Cyber defense and AI are more than just buzzwords in dozens of panels and background discussions on the future of modern warfare. Unlike ten years ago, the conference’s guests include representatives from civilian companies, the World Bank, and UN sub-organizations as well as military personnel, representatives from defense technology companies, diplomats, and politicians.
The Bundeswehr’s Cyber Innovation Hub unofficially kicked off the anniversary conference on Thursday evening: The MSC Innovation Night in the main hall of the Bayerischer Hof was attended by Inspector General Carsten Breuer and Army Chief of Staff Alfons Mais, among others. Lieutenant General Michael Vetter, Head of the Cyber and Information Technology Department at the Ministry of Defense, told Table.Media that the Bundeswehr is well on the way to “making software-based swearing-in a reality”. Even if progress is made more difficult by the fact that the financial and material deficits of the past 25 years have to be compensated for.
The reference to empty coffers is symptomatic not only for the defense industry. Concerning the multitude of global crises, Axel van Trotsenburg refers to the “staying power” that is needed to achieve something like human security for millions of people in fragile states, starting with the fight against rising extreme poverty. The Senior Managing Director of the World Bank points out that the costs for the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine alone, which was attacked by Russia, will amount to around €453 billion over the next ten years. “The longer the war lasts, the higher the costs will be”, van Trotsenburg told Table.Media.
This applies not only to the war in Ukraine, but also to the war in the Middle East. UN Secretary-General António Guterres will address them both when he officially opens the 60th Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof on Friday afternoon. These will not be the only crises that will dominate the discussions in Munich until Sunday.
He already seemed to be retired. But now French President Emmanuel Macron has entrusted Jean-Marie Bockel with a delicate mission as his “personal representative”: He is to explain to those countries in Africa that have received French military bases – Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Chad – “the reasons and modalities of the forthcoming adjustments” to French foreign policy. These are the words of a letter from the French President to Bockel.
Behind the coded formulation is nothing other than the desire for a fundamental new beginning. France had suffered humiliating setbacks in the Sahel, a region that was once considered France’s front yard, the pré carré. Now Macron wants to reorganize the French presence in Africa. With the exception of Djibouti, troop numbers are to be reduced in all countries where the French military still operates. The main features of the restructuring were discussed during a meeting of the Defense Council in December 2023. “It is about building renewed, balanced and mutually beneficial partnerships with African countries that fully represent our interests”, Macron’s letter to Bockel continues.
It is surprising that Macron is not entrusting his Africa advisor Jérémie Robert with this task. He has been in charge of relations with Africa at the Élysée Palace since November 2023. Macron obviously wants to send a strong signal in French-speaking Africa. Bockel stands for a clear rejection of “Françafrique”, this web of mutual dependencies, hidden influence and backdoor politics between France and its former colonies.
It is unforgotten in France how Bockel, as Secretary of State for Development Policy, wanted to bury this tradition. “Françafrique is dying”, said Bockel confidently in an interview with “Le Monde” in January 2008. “I want to sign its death certificate.” Allegedly under pressure from the then-dictator of Gabon, Omar Bongo, the then-President Nicolas Sarkozy moved Bockel to another post two months later. In 2010, Bockel left the government for good.
Sarkozy could have known it. The 73-year-old Alsatian stands for firm convictions. Growing up at the foot of the Vosges mountains in Thann, Bockel studied law and administrative sciences in Strasbourg and joined the Socialist Party in 1973. From 1989 to 2010, he was mayor of Mulhouse, a former Free Imperial City that long belonged to Switzerland and was only annexed by France after the French Revolution. Bockel was a member of parliament and a senator. He also held various offices in different government cabinets.
As a moderate social democrat, Bockel moved away from the left of the party at the end of the 1990s. During the 2006/2007 election campaign, he first supported Dominique Strauss-Kahn and then Ségolène Royal. The former was not allowed to become president, the latter was defeated by Sarkozy. After his election victory in May 2007, Bockel joined Sarkozy’s government.
Bockel’s CV explains why Macron entrusted him with this mission and not the diplomat Robert, who was previously Consul General in New York: on the one hand, the aim is to put the French military presence in Africa on a new footing and, on the other, to mend the broken pieces of a failed Africa policy in the region.
It helps that he advocated a new stance on Africa 17 years ago, knowing full well what this would mean for his political career. Then there is his personal history: Before settling in Thann as a notary, his father was a soldier in the French African Army, which had nothing in common with the colonial troops. During the Second World War, French soldiers fought side by side with African soldiers in the African Army and took part in the advance of US troops into Germany via Italy and the Rhône Valley.
Jean-Marie Bockel is a reserve colonel himself. His son Pierre-Emmanuel took part in Operation Barkhane in Mali as a captain and helicopter pilot. He was killed in December 2019 when his Cougar helicopter collided with another French military helicopter during a night mission. He would have celebrated his 33rd birthday on Feb. 9.
In recent years, Bockel has regularly been seen skiing or hiking in his beloved Southern Vosges. Macron no longer has time for that. Bockel is due to present his recommendations to the president in July. Christian von Hiller
