- Privacy Shield succession: political agreement, legal pitfalls
- EU leaders want Ukraine to participate in gas procurement
- DMA: the question of enforcement
- Qatar: no additional LNG before 2025
- British energy provider sells gas division
- Doctors lament problems with care for war refugees
- Profile: Shada Islam – EU insider looking beyond
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” What the US president said Saturday night in Warsaw about hopes for a change of power in the Kremlin still caused a verbal back-and-forth between Washington and Moscow over the weekend. Whether it was a slip of the tongue or deliberate ambiguity on the part of the US government, the Biden quote concluded a diplomatic marathon in Europe.
At the European Council, the heads of state and government had previously opened up the possibility for Ukraine to participate in joint gas purchasing. Read the Feature by Eric Bonse, Isabel Cuesta Camacho, and Manuel Berkel to find out what steps should be taken to counter high energy prices.
The US and Europe are moving closer together again, not just on energy security. In Brussels, the two sides announced an agreement on another economically important issue – a new Privacy Shield for transatlantic data protection. Falk Steiner analyzes what could still get in digital companies and intelligence services’ way.
The enforcement of the Digital Markets Act is anything but clear. Read the News to find out what will happen next for public authorities and digital companies once the negotiations have been concluded.
The Profile of Shada Islam is about the fine art of diplomacy. The migration expert wants to convey a sense of diversity and opposes a eurocentric view of people in need of help.
Manuel Berkel
Feature
Privacy Shield succession: political agreement, legal pitfalls
The EU and the US have agreed on an improved Privacy Shield. “We’ve agreed to unprecedented protections for data privacy and security for citizens,” US President Joe Biden said Friday at a press conference with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We are very pleased that we found an agreement in principle on a new framework for transatlantic data flows,” von der Leyen said. This would make data traffic across the North Atlantic “predictable and trustworthy”, “balancing security, the right to privacy and data protection,” she said. There is great joy about this among those involved, but it could be premature. For, according to Ursula von der Leyen, this is an agreement in principle. The European Data Protection Supervisor had a sober reaction: In principle, he welcomed the announcement, explained Wojciech Wiewiórowski. But such an agreement would have to meet the requirements set by the European Court of Justice.
Since the European Court of Justice declared the EU Commission’s previous agreement with the US invalid in its Schrems II ruling in summer 2020, the transatlantic transfer of personal data subject to the GDPR has been on legally shaky ground. In the coming days, the Irish data protection regulator DPC is due to announce a decision in the Facebook case. This could mean that the standard contractual clauses (SCC) used by many companies as an alternative to the Privacy Shield or comparable mechanisms will no longer be a legal option – quite a few lawyers expect this to happen.
The pressure on the negotiators on both sides grew with each passing day: US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo had been talking for months about an imminent outcome, while EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders remained cautious about reaching an agreement soon. In the wake of the Ukraine crisis, however, the transatlantic alliances have become much closer again, and the dependence of the two unequal partners on each other in terms of data protection is obvious. But the main problem remains unsolved for the time being, even with the political agreement.
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