Tuesday, 21 May - Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Inga Bērziņa leads the Latvian delegation at the European Union (EU) Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Ministerial Council meeting in Brussels, where the EU Council conclusions on the future of EU digital policy and EU cybersecurity are to be endorsed.
The Belgian Presidency calls on ministers to adopt draft EU Council conclusions outlining the main priorities for the future of EU digital policy in the next legislative cycle.
Minister Inga Bērziņa: "It is important for Latvia that a coherent EU digital and cybersecurity policy is ensured. It is important to strengthen the resilience of digital infrastructure across the EU, especially in the current geopolitical context. It is important to support a common and strategic European approach to innovative digital and future technologies that contribute to the EU's development and global competitiveness."
Latvia supports the draft conclusions. In the area of digital governance, there is a need to further support the development of interoperable public digital services and public administration infrastructure and to ensure interoperable digital identity solutions such as the European Digital Identity Wallet. Digital transformation must go hand in hand with green transformation to reduce the environmental footprint and accelerate green transformation to optimise energy consumption and promote the use of innovative technologies for climate action. In the area of data, the need to develop common data standards to facilitate the use of data should be supported. A common and strategic European approach to innovative digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, 6G technology and others, should also be supported.
A ministerial discussion is planned at the EU Council, where the Latvian delegation plans to stress that the design and implementation of new legislation should take into account elements of a common architecture for EU digital solutions for sharing and re-use. It is important to use different levels of cooperation formats to exchange experience and best practices, especially in areas where regulation is being initiated, such as the regulation of artificial intelligence. We also note that the timely publication of implementing acts and guidelines is important for the practical implementation of adopted legislation such as the Electronic Identification Regulation and the AI Act.
Latvia will express support for the non-paper jointly developed by the delegations on a common, harmonised and streamlined use of the European Digital Identity Wallet across the European Union.