Miniștrii UE promit că promovarea tehnologiei europene nu va exclude partenerii
Miniștrii UE au promis marți că eforturile blocului comunitar de a crește numărul de tehnologii fabricate în Europa nu vor exclude furnizorii străini, în ciuda criticilor organizațiilor comerciale din Statele Unite, Australia și Japonia.
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The EU last week unveiled a "tech sovereignty" package to slash the 27-nation bloc's dependence on foreign companies, including favouring European firms in the most sensitive public contracts for cloud computing and AI.
But on Monday, trade groups from the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan wrote to EU digital and telecoms ministers meeting in Luxembourg to warn the push will keep non-EU players out and could lead to "uneven" treatment.
European ministers insisted that would not be the case.
"We're not going to cut our relationships, not the US and other countries either," Sweden's public administration minister Erik Slottner told reporters ahead of the meeting with his EU counterparts.
He said it would help Europe to be more "sovereign but in an open manner", not by isolating itself but "with cooperation internationally".
Germany's digital minister, Karsten Wildberger, said Europe needed to strike the right balance as it encourages homegrown tech.
"It's always a fine balance between finding the right approach to support European solutions, but at the same time not neglect partnerships that are also important," Wildberger said.
Brussels sees the issue as existential as companies from outside the bloc provide over 80 percent of its digital products, services, infrastructure and intellectual property, according to the European Commission.
In their letter, the Big Tech lobby group CCIA, the Tech Council of Australia, the Canada EU Trade and Investment Association and the Japan Association of New Economy called on the European Union to remain open to key trade partners.
The EU's proposal "could lead to uneven treatment of suppliers and reduce opportunities for trusted companies that have long been investing in Europe's digital development", they warned.
The tech sovereignty rules will only become law after negotiations between member states and the European Parliament.