Aura Salla: The EU needs to play a more strategic game
The EU is playing with low stakes. We must strengthen our competitiveness on the global playing field. De-regulation is needed so that businesses have the conditions to grow in Europe. The internal market must be strengthened so that it truly functions. At the same time, we must begin to utilize our data as we do with other raw materials, and assign a price to European metadata. I raised this issue in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). Currently, we are giving away our behavioral and traffic data for free to companies outside Europe. Yet, such data is needed in large quantities for the development of a vast number of technologies, such as artificial intelligence. Large US and Chinese companies collect this data from Europe and transfer it to their home countries to support technological development.
In addition, the debate around data centers is gaining momentum in Finland. Data centers themselves are ‘’bulk commodities’’ in the data economy and do not pose a threat to the data security of Finnish citizens. What is concerning, however, is that TikTok’s data center project represents a choice to offer an attractive investment opportunity and cheap electricity to an authoritarian state that supports Putin’s war in Ukraine. Why do we keep giving more and more room to China and the US, when we should be focusing on strengthening the EU?
Beyond the digital market and customs issues, the Parliament is currently focusing on reviewing the Commission’s proposals, particularly with an eye to deregulation, as well as on negotiations for the upcoming budget. I believe that the EU will stay on course with its climate targets, but we must be vigilant to ensure that technological neutrality and market-based approaches are emphasized when decisions are made at the detail level. The energy market should not be distorted by State or EU-level subsidies. Instead, the focus must be on finding cross-border solutions and developing new technologies.
This week, I will present a draft report on the simplification of the InvestEU funding program to the European Parliament’s Budget Committee. I serve as the Committee’s lead rapporteur for this report. We will also enter shadow negotiations to work through the content of the report with the shadow rapporteurs from other political groups in Parliament. The goal is to reach a compromise with the other parties. The negotiations won’t be easy, but I believe we will find common ground to channel more risk financing into key EU projects in order to boost competitiveness. Meanwhile in Finland, my team is strengthened as Petra Järvimaa has started as my local assistant in the Finnish parliament.
Aura
Member of the European Parliament, National Coalition Party, EPP
