French President Macron Calls For Digital Sovereignty For Europe

France

A top goal in the European debate over updating the rules of the road for the internet should be a “European solution and European sovereignty,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. European Union regulators are working on a Digital Services Act that would address such issues as antitrust rules and taxes.

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    CNBC reported that Macron spoke in an interview with Niklas Zennstrom, who co-founded Skype. There are three key requirements needed for “digital sovereignty,” Macron said: having more cooperation across the EU on issues like the financing of startups; creating a “digital single market” that protects privacy and promotes tech innovation; and setting up cloud and data solutions to curb reliance on U.S. companies.

    “We need European financing, European solutions, European talents, European regulations,” Macron said.

    The French president’s comments come as the EU works on drafting the Digital Services Act along with a European Democracy Action Plan. The EU’s legal framework governing the Internet has been largely unchanged for a couple decades.

    In an open letter, Twitter, Mozilla, Automatic and Vimeo argued that these new rules “will either renew the promise of the Open Internet or compound a problematic status quo”

    Regarding eCommerce, the French Finance Ministry has told Big Tech that that the country’s own Digital Service Tax has come due. “Companies subject to the tax have received notice to pay the 2020 installment,” said an official.

    The 3 percent tax affects tech companies with revenues of more than 25 million euros in France and 750 million euros worldwide. France had put the tax, passed last year, on hold in a bid to reach an international tax deal through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD is an international economic organization with 37 member countries.

    In addition, Germany’s economic minister talked up plans for an EU cloud computing project called Gaia-X, also involving France.