The European Commission is presenting ProtectEU – a European Internal Security Strategy to support Member States and bolster the EU’s ability to guarantee security for its citizens. The strategy sets out an ambitious vision and workplan for the years to come, with a sharper legal toolbox, increased information sharing and deeper cooperation.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_920
- A Roadmap on lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement,
- A Technology Roadmap on encryption, and an impact assessment with a view to updating the EU’s data retention rules.
Worried about the implications of this
Can’t they just fuck off. Honestly this just affirms the fact that the EU is in desperate need of democratic reform.
Key extracts from the full document
Key actions
The Commission will adopt:
• a legislative proposal to transform Europol into a truly operational law enforcement
agency in 2026
• a legislative proposal to strengthen Eurojust in 2026
• a legislative proposal to reinforce Frontex’s role and tasks in 2026
• a legislative proposal to establish a European Critical Communications System in
2026
The Commission will:
• present a Roadmap setting out the way forward on lawful and effective access to
data for law enforcement in 2025
• prepare an impact assessment in 2025 with a view to updating rules on data
retention at EU level, as appropriate
• present a Technology Roadmap on encryption to identify and assess technological
solutions to enable lawful access to data by law enforcement authorities in 2026
• work towards creating a High-Level Group to strengthen operational law
enforcement cooperation
• create a Security Research & Innovation Campus at its Joint Research Centre in
2026
The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States and relevant EU agencies,
will:
• strengthen the EMPACT architecture
• work towards the swift rollout of the interoperability architecture and
implementation of the Prüm II Regulation
• strengthen the travel information framework
Member States are urged to:
• transpose and fully implement the Information Exchange Directiv
The EU has taken action both to tackle online crime and to facilitate access
to digital evidence for all crimes, with the adoption of electronic evidence rules that will apply fully from August 2026. These will be complemented by international instruments for
information and evidence exchange. The Commission will soon propose the signature and
conclusion of the new UN Convention against Cybercrime.
To follow up on the recommendations of the High-Level Group, the Commission will present
in the first half of 2025 a roadmap setting out the legal and practical measures it proposes
to take to ensure lawful and effective access to data. In the follow-up to this Roadmap, the
Commission will prioritise an assessment of the impact of data retention rules at EU level and
the preparation of a Technology Roadmap on encryption, to identify and assess technological
solutions that would enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data in a lawful
manner, safeguarding cybersecurity and fundamental rights.
This seems like it could end up just as poorly as the Patriot Act did.
SIGH. It was a bad week in terms of privacy news.
EU Come on, Countries like Netherlands and Germany have already denied undermining encryption and privacy and for good reasons and you keep going?
Like, what are you doing!
We’re in Trouble I guess, Time to try get a job to move to Japan or something. And if the EU decides to go along this, I will not necessarily blame my country here.
I saw this news from Mullvad on their Mastodon:
Full release from commission:
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What the hell is happening in Europe?
It’ll be worse. They saw what went wrong with the patriot act so now they know what needs to be hidden, what the best talking points are, and how to scare the population into believing it’s in their best interest.
Reminder that none of this is law, untill or unless it is approved by the EU parliament and in the Council (with 65% of countries by population needing to agree)
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. They started shiningly with gdpr, now on the path of self suicidal with chat control and craps.