Debate: European strategy for data – Commission evaluation report on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation two years after its application
Date: THURSDAY, 25 MARCH 2021
Speaker: Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Country: France
Language: EN

We believe that this strategy will be a basis for European businesses and their global competitiveness. It will define the conditions for a fair data economy which will lead to better services, sustainable growth and quality jobs. It must be designed in such a way as to facilitate innovations, data access and flows, interoperability and cross—border data portability. We must safeguard fair competition and legal clarity for all actors. The COVID—19 crisis has highlighted even more the role and need for high quality real—time data sharing. Data can be used to predict and treat diseases and understand better how viruses spread. Future data legislation must be based on the EU’s rules and values: privacy, transparency and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Human—centric data policy is at the heart of the European Parliament position. As GDPR is another topic this morning, the right to data portability and other rights provided by the General Data Protection Regulation must be untouched. But the tools to use these rights must be reinforced. Data strategy must support and contribute to the sustainability of the Green Deal and Union climate targets, as well as the resilient recovery of the Union’s economy and social cohesion. During our report process, the Commission gave a legal proposal for the Data Governance Act. I warmly thank it for the discussions along the way.  We fully support the creation of the Data Governance Framework and common European data spaces. In this report we touch on various ways of how to get data out from the silos and to benefit Europe in machine—readable formats. Parliament insists that data governance must be built on a decentralised data operating environment that will support the emergence of interoperable and secure data ecosystems in various sectors. If I were to pick one of the most important messages from this report and the negotiations on the DGA, I would highlight the need for interoperability and standards.  Well—formed APIs could provide essential access to data and interoperability would enable automated real—time data flows between the different actors. We still expect important legislative proposals on the Data Act to clarify data access rights and flows, business—to—business, business—to—government and vice versa, and also between all governmental actors. Economic growth can be secured by ensuring a level playing field and a competitive multiplayer and fair market economy. We don’t want to see monopoly markets on data.  Data sharing culture and voluntary data sharing schemes must be encouraged by, for example, fair contractual model agreements and security measures. But also market imbalances must be tackled. Business—to—business contractual agreements do not always necessarily guarantee adequate access to SMEs, owing to disparities in negotiating power. Actors’ rights and obligations to access the data they have been involved in generating must fall within that focus. This report highlights also the role of the public sector in fostering an innovative and competitive data economy. We call for EU institutions and Member States to lead by example and put in place real—time services based on real—time quality data. Let me take some other important topics I want to highlight. First, infrastructure. The success of data and AI strategies depend on the wider ICT systems. We must close the digital gap, accelerate technological developments and investments on cutting—edge technologies. We are waiting for the Cloud rulebook to happen, and welcome new Cloud initiatives, but also high performance computing, 5-6 G, AI, fibre and so on. On the climate, the digital sector has a significant potential to contribute to the reduction of emissions. We call for modern energy efficient solutions fit for our climate goals.  A cybersecurity framework is also needed for the data economy, as is its deployment, for example in the EU toolbox on 5G cybersecurity.  The Union’s growth potential depends on the skills of its population and workforce. From overall digital literacy, to software engineering and the challenge to build European know—how on next generation technologies.  The data economy goes hand in hand with AI and AI relies on high quality and increased data availability. We must prevent all kinds of biases, especially gender, from being reflected in AI applications. Transparency on algorithms is a priority and we must focus on the employment of women in tech to help this. On working life, we call in this strategy on the social partners to explore the potential of digitalisation, data and AI for increasing sustainable productivity while respecting workers’ rights. To increase trust, employees should have the right to know where and how their data is collected, used, stored and shared. I conclude with the global perspective. Establishing an international framework for data—sharing and international rules with like—minded third countries is a role that the EU has to take seriously.  Parliament calls for the free flow of data with proper rules in place, and this funding and legislative proposal will make these a reality. I thank all the tens of colleagues, my shadows and, all and all, the seven committees who provided material for this report.