Virkkunen stands firm on American pushback against EU tech laws

A daily download of the topics driving the tech policy agenda, from Brussels to London to Silicon Valley.

By PIETER HAECK

with MATHIEU POLLET and ELIZA GKRITSI

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— The EU plans to raise the American pushback against tech law with the U.S., said tech boss Henna Virkkunen. She also promised a more “innovation-friendly” AI regulatory framework.

— Rolling out AI should mean talking to workers and helping them gain new skills, said EESC president Oliver Röpke. Failing to get it right could deepen existing inequalities, he warned.

— Trouble in cloud world — again.

Good morning and welcome to Morning Tech. This is Pieter, who’s not a fan of the horrible weather in Paris.

As always, send the hottest tech policy news and gossip to Pieter, Mathieu and Eliza.

EU TO “DISCUSS” US PUSHBACK AGAINST TECH LAWS: The European Union’s tech laws are fair since they apply to everyone, European Commission tech boss Henna Virkkunen told Morning Tech on the sidelines of the French Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris. She said the EU will pass that message on to U.S. officials. 

Virkkunen is facing one of her first big tests in Paris as the EU – and its social media, digital competition and AI rules – come under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and several U.S. Big Tech firms.

First face-to-face: U.S. Vice President JD Vance is due to meet with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris today, the first face-to-face meeting between the European Union’s executive and a senior member of the Trump administration. Tech titan and X owner Elon Musk, now heading Trump’s government efficiency drive, won’t make it.

POLITICO asked Virkkunen whether the U.S. pushback against EU tech enforcement will come up.

“Of course, we will discuss with our counterparts,” Virkkunen said.

“When we are doing business in other countries we have to respect their rules. When it comes to our digital rules in the European Union they are very fair, they are the same rules for everybody, for American companies, for European … for China’s companies,” she said 

We get the message: Virkkunen agreed with tech industry criticism that EU rules can be a bureaucratic nightmare when she spoke earlier in the day.

The EU’s regulatory framework should be “innovation-friendly”, she told the first panel at the Grand Palais. She promised that the Commission would simplify its artificial intelligence and tech rules, as one of the forthcoming “omnibus” proposals.

In the evening, she repeated that message to Morning Tech at La Maison de la Chimie — just before the first day’s afterparty kicked off.

“I’m also taking this criticism very seriously that we’re getting from SMEs and industry that we have too much bureaucracy and red tape,” she said. She pledges to implement the AI Act “in an innovation-friendly manner” and said that the EU’s voluntary code of practice — which was criticized by Meta and Google last week — should not create “any extra burden.” 

On the AI Summit declaration: “We will see what will happen,” was Virkkunen’s non-answer when asked about a POLITICO report that the U.K. might not sign the AI Summit’s main declaration which calls for backing of inclusive and sustainable AI.

Virkkunen also replied diplomatically about the balance between regulating AI and investing in it, saying both are timely and necessary. 

AI CAN DEEPEN EXISTING INEQUALITIES, RÖPKE WARNS: The AI Action Summit’s several side events include at the Palais d’Iena near the Eiffel Tower, which focused on the impact that AI has on the workforce. Morning Tech was there to catch up with Oliver Röpke, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, essentially an EU forum for workers and businesses. 

Social dialog on speed: The rollout of artificial intelligence could come with “huge opportunities,” Röpke said, and it makes no sense to try to stop it. But AI should be applied throughout the economy in a way that “is not harmful and not disruptive” for the workforce, he said.

He sees two key conditions to ensure that: strengthened social dialog via new structures that are equipped to deal with the speed of AI and new investments to upskill or reskill workers. 

But not just any upskilling: Plans to upskill the workforce should be aimed at the right people, Röpke argued. 

“Artificial intelligence can also bring the risk that it will deepen existing inequalities. We have to look especially to marginalized groups, to more vulnerable groups, the older workforce,” he said.

Trying to map the impact: AI model provider Anthropic, famous for its AI model and assistant Claude, released new research that looked into millions of anonymized conversations with Claude.ai and how AI is being corporated in daily life and work. 

The research showed that AI is embraced the most for “computer and mathematical” tasks (which includes software development) and for “arts, design, sports, entertainment and media.” It reflected how AI is used the most for software development and (technical) writing and editing. Anthropic’s aim for the research was to show how AI might affect the labor market over time.

OUR REVIEW OF DAY ONE

What was good:

— The food in the press room. Small but very tasty bites. Also great coffee. 

— The venue. It’s hard not to be impressed by the Grand Palais.

What was bad:

— The organization has been very chaotic, which continued to show during the first morning. We don’t know who got the idea to print a picture of our ID cards on our badges (instead of a photo of our faces), but hey, it happened. The logistical chaos has been a major talking point during the many parties. 

Quote du jour: “We don’t want to see the emergence of AI systems that you know kill other people,” said Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio.

Things you might have missed: Macron’s nuclear energy push to power AI (“Plug, baby, plug”) and his declaration of €109 billion in AI investments. The launch of an EU AI Champions Initiative, powered by tech giants, such as ASML, and upstarts, such as Mistral. POLITICO also has a list of the nine AI power players you need to know.

What to watch out for today: The meeting between von der Leyen and Vance, the final plenary with heads of government (with some speeches live-streamed here) and the Business Day at startup hub Station F.

CAN DO (MUCH) BETTER: The European Cloud Competition Observatory — or ECCO, the brainchild of Amazon-backed cloud lobby group CISPE and formed in parallel with its multi-million euro settlement deal with Microsoft — is singling out tech giant Broadcom over the “brutal and unacceptable” terms for users of the VMware virtualization software it bought in 2023. In a new report published today, ECCO, which declares itself as tracking the fight against unfair licensing practices, gives it a “red” rating.

“Regulators must be reminded that enforcement action is sometimes essential to curb ongoing unfair practices,” Francisco Mingorance, CISPE’s secretary general, said in a statement. “In today’s geopolitical context, it is imperative that the rule of law should not be compromised in hopes of defusing potential trade tensions.”

You’re doing okay: Microsoft, which has recently joined CISPE as a non-voting member of the trade association and has committed to making some changes, gets an “amber” rating — which is code for insufficient progress. Despite efforts from the U.S. firm and positive talks already, some promises may not be on track to be delivered by the April deadline, ECCO warned.

AVSMD HEATING UP: The Polish presidency has suggested that “prominence measures” on online platforms can fight misinformation, according to its latest text on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive obtained by Morning Tech. These measures could see certain types of content, particularly from European producers or journalists, featured more prominently on platforms. The text also hinted at changes in advertising rules.

NOKIA CEO BITES THE DUST: Pekka Lundmark, the boss of one of Europe’s crown jewels and tech champion Nokia, will step down at the end of March, the company said in a surprise announcement on Monday, after he’d had almost five years in the driving seat.

Lundmark paid multiple visits to Brussels over the past couple of months, where he called on the Commission to urgently act to reverse the bloc’s decline and pitched a big telecom “bonfire” to reset the bloc’s burdensome regulatory framework that is allegedly holding operators back.

Meet the new guy: He will be replaced by Justin Hotard, Intel’s current vice president for artificial intelligence and data centers, signaling the company’s efforts to break into growing markets as sales of telecom equipment slow down.

“He has a strong track record of accelerating growth in technology companies along with vast expertise in AI and data center markets, which are critical areas for Nokia’s future growth,” said Sari Baldauf, the chair of Nokia’s board.

COMMISSION: Day two of the AI Action Summit in Paris. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the closing ceremony and meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Tech czar Henna Virkkunen heads to the business day at startup campus Station F and meets with French Prime Minister François Bayrou.

A(I)MSTERDAM: Cisco is hosting its very own AI-heavy fest in Amsterdam.

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE, AGAIN: The European Parliament is hosting a roundtable on foreign interference today, with representatives from the Commission, the External Action Service and some key MEPs, such as Danish socialist Christel Schaldemose and the newly-appointed lawmaker for the Parliament’s committee on the democracy shield, Swedish center-right politician Tomas Tobé.

During the plenary session in Strasbourg, European lawmakers will also ask the Commission about the U.S. AI chips export ban.

CONGRATULATIONS: Standardization body ETSI has appointed Martin Chatel as chief policy officer.

OpenAI inked a licensing deal with Nordic media house Schibsted.

The post Virkkunen stands firm on American pushback against EU tech laws appeared first on Politico.