Negotiations between EU states on the controversial “chat control” in the fight against child pornography have failed for the time being, partly due to German concerns. It became apparent that a sufficient majority would not be achieved, the Belgian Council Presidency said on Thursday. The Presidency therefore decided to remove the item from the agenda.
The basis for the plans is a proposal by the EU Commission, according to which providers such as Google or Facebook can, under certain circumstances, be required to use software to search their services for images of child abuse. This had already been adjusted with compromise proposals. However, critics repeatedly spoke of “chat control” and fear mass surveillance.
Hungary could try again to reach an agreement between the EU states during its upcoming EU Council Presidency starting in July. The countries would then have to negotiate the final text of the law with Parliament and the Commission before the new rules could come into force.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann viewed the cancellation of the vote planned for Thursday as a success for the federal government’s efforts. The FDP politician said he was pleased “that my concerns about the rule of law have fallen on fertile ground.” It was good that the federal government was speaking with one voice on this issue and taking a joint position against the random and mass scanning of private communications and data in the cloud – even encrypted ones.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior said it was assumed that the vote had been cancelled due to German resistance. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) had stated on Wednesday that Germany would vote against the Commission’s proposal in its current form.
At the beginning of the week, 36 politicians from Europe also appealed to the EU member states in an open letter to vote against the plans. They are convinced that the proposed measures are incompatible with European fundamental rights, the paper said. The signatories include FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann and Konstantin von Notz from the Greens.
