“The central question is whether a single digital regulator should be established, at national level, coordinating responsibilities currently spread across multiple authorities whilst ensuring a more integrated consistent approach to enforcement,” Portuguese Minister for State Reform Gonçalo Matias wrote in an invitation for an October summit with 13 countries, seen by POLITICO.
Although the pitch proved controversial, it received some support in the summit’s final declaration. “The potential establishment of a single digital regulator at national or EU level can consolidate responsibilities, ensure coherent enforcement of EU digital legislation and foster an innovation-friendly regulatory culture,” the 13 countries said.
That group didn’t include countries that are traditionally skeptical of handing power to a Brussels-backed agency, such as Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
Isolating tech enforcement in an independent agency could also limit the interplay with the Commission’s other enforcement powers, such as on antitrust matters, Mariniello argued.
Even for advocates such as Geese, there is a potential downside to reopening the debate at such a critical moment for digital enforcement.
“The world is watching Europe to see how it responds to one of the most egregious episodes of a large language model perpetuating gender based violence,” she wrote in a recent opinion.
As for a new agency, “You’re gonna debate this for two or three years, with the Council, and Hungary and Slovakia are going to say: No way. And in the meantime, nothing happens, because that becomes the excuse: The agency is going to do it,” Geese said.
