The European Parliament Elections 2019 - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TECH SECTOR, MAY 2019 - HubSpot
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The European
Parliament Elections
2019
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TECH SECTOR, MAY 2019
www.inlinepolicy.com
Executive Summary
• The two largest political groups in the Parliament. The fragmentation of seat
European Parliament, the Socialists and allocations between party groupings will
Democrats (S&D) and European People’s complicate this process and make it
Party (EPP), have lost seats and no longer harder for legislation to pass.
hold a combined absolute majority.
• Negotiations to form new parliamentary
• Political groups with the most gains groups are expected to take longer than
include the Alliance of Liberals and in previous elections due to the
Democrats in Europe (ALDE) whose complexity of the new political landscape.
inclusion of France’s En Marche has Closed-door negotiations have already
elevated ALDE to the third-largest group. begun and will continue to define the
Meanwhile, the Greens/European Free composition of the incoming Parliament.
Alliance (EFA) have benefited from strong Some compromise in groups’ policy
results in Germany, France and the UK objectives can be expected during the
and now sit as the fourth-largest group. negotiations.
Both these groups now have significant
power in shaping agreement in the next • The Spitzenkandidaten process will now
European Parliament. become more complicated due to a
fragmented Parliament with no clear
• Populist and Eurosceptic groups such as leading candidate. Although Manfred
Italy’s Lega Nord and the UK’s Brexit Party Weber (lead candidate for the EPP) was
made gains, however these right-wing initially the likely choice for the next
political groups remain fragmented and European Commission President, any
may not form a coherent bloc to exercise candidate will now require the
a common voice. endorsement of two or more of the larger
political groupings. This raises questions
• In terms of parliamentary process, these over which candidate will be able to
results dictate that coalitions of at least gather enough support.
three-party groupings will be required to
get legislation through the European
CONTENTS
The outcome of the election................................................................................................................... 3
Key policy areas for the tech sector........................................................................................................ 6
Key newcomers to watch ........................................................................................................................ 8
Key veterans to watch............................................................................................................................. 9
Timeline and next steps ........................................................................................................................ 12
2 | The European elections and the tech sector
The outcome of the
elections
Please note: the election results outlined in and Democrats (S&D). The EPP’s number of
this document are based on preliminary seats fell from 216 to 180 and the S&D from
results. The groups for the 2019-2024 term 185 to 146.
will be finalised during negotiations to form
new parliamentary groups; this may lead to The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in
changes in official group names, their Europe (ALDE) has been strengthened by
constituent national parties and seat support for President Macron’s En Marche
allocations party in France with the combined party
group winning 109 seats, up from 69, and
VOTE BREAKDOWN placing them as the third largest in the
European Parliament. Other gains from Green
751 Members of the European Parliament parties in France, the UK and Germany have
(MEPs) from 28 Member States – including elevated the Greens/European Free Alliance
the United Kingdom – have now been elected (EFA) to the fourth-largest group after they
for the 2019-24 legislative term. The initial secured 70 seats, an increase from 52.
results from the elections (outlined below)
show a drop in support for the two largest Whilst support for Eurosceptic parties has
political groups, the European People’s Party increased, they did not fare as well as some
(EPP) and Progressive Alliance of Socialists had predicted. Right-wing groupings of the
Fig 1: Seat allocations per political group (provisional)
3 | The European elections and the tech sectorEuropean Conservatives and Reformists
(ECR), Europe of Freedom and Direct ANALYSIS
Democracy (EFDD) and Europe of Nations and
Freedom (ENF) won 171 seats collectively, up
from 155. The UK’s Brexit Party, Italy’s Lega PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS
Nord and France’s National Rally brought
notable results. Nevertheless, other far-right The loss of the EPP and S&D’s combined
parties such as the Netherlands’s Party for absolute majority increases the opportunity
Freedom, Denmark’s People’s Party and for smaller political groupings to play a more
Austria’s Freedom Party did not perform as central role in creating coalitions on
expected. parliamentary business. At a minimum, there
will need to be cross-party agreement
More broadly, the gradual decline in voter between the EPP, S&D and ALDE; or a
turnout over recent European Parliament coalition of four or more groups, to pass
elections was reversed with a little over 50% votes.
of eligible European voters heading to the
polls, an increase from 42.6% in 2014. If the three main parties cannot coalesce
around policy issues, the EPP will be unable to
Fig 2: Seat allocations per Member State (and re-allocations after Brexit)
4 | The European elections and the tech sectorcreate a coalition of parties to the right of general election after the Government’s
itself that achieves an absolute majority. The Syriza party came second in the EU elections.
S&D will face the same challenge with a Meanwhile, the success of Italy’s Lega Nord,
coalition to the left. and the underperformance of their coalition
partners the Five Star Movement, has raised
Overall, this fragmentation of power within the possibility of Interior Minister Matteo
the Parliament highlights the importance of Salvini also calling snap elections.
ALDE and the Green/EFA groups for the EPP It is not clear whether the Spitzenkandidaten
and S&D; and marks them both as potential process – whereby the European Commission
kingmakers in the next Parliament. This will President is selected from the lead candidate
make it more complicated to reach consensus of the party group with the most votes – will
over key policy issues and it is likely that the be used to select the European Commission
approval of legislation will be slowed down or President. With the (informal) process only
even made impossible in certain cases. having been used once previously in 2014,
national leaders in the European Council
POTENTIAL DISRUPTION could prevent the Parliamentary elections
from determining the candidate for one of
Just under a quarter of European Parliament the EU’s most high-profile and influential
seats are now held by Eurosceptic parties positions. If there is continuity, the
with the largest including Italy’s Lega Nord, conservative EPP’s lead candidate Manfred
France’s National Rally, the UK’s Brexit Party Weber will be nominated.
and Poland’s Law and Justice Party. This right-
wing bloc could wield significant influence If the EPP is unable to build enough of a
within the Parliament and purposefully coalition of support within the Parliament, an
disrupt business (particularly the UK’s Brexit alternative candidate could come from the
Party). However, the extent to which they formation of a new centrist bloc composed of
influence policy will depend largely on their the S&D, the Greens and ALDE. The Greens
ability to overcome their political differences and S&D have already indicated their
and maintain a cohesive alliance. reluctance to support Manfred Weber and an
S&D candidate – potentially lead candidate
Once the UK leaves the EU (currently Frans Timmermans – may be more likely to
scheduled for October) the number of MEPs gain the support of a majority in the
will be reduced from 751 to 705. The Parliament, as the S&D could more easily
departure of British MEPs will also impact the reach an agreement with liberal and centre-
power shares of the political groups which left parties.
they join, namely the S&D, ECR and EFDD.
Furthermore, some of the UK’s seats will be Another compromise candidate could come
reallocated to different Member States thus from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in
altering the national power balance after Europe (ALDE), who ran a multi-candidate
Brexit. Spitzenkandidaten list including outgoing EU
Competition Commissioner Margrethe
OTHER EU INSTITUTIONS Vestager and ALDE’s European Parliament
group leader, Guy Verhofstadt. ALDE and the
The outcome of the elections has already had Green/EFA’s position as the third and fourth
implications for certain Member States’ largest groups now place them as stronger
national politics which will impact the stakeholders in determining the next
composition of the Council of the EU. For European Commission President.
example, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
has announced that he will hold an early
5 | The European elections and the tech sectorNEXT STEPS vote at a second Plenary session from the
15-18 July on the European Commission
President nominated by the European
MEPs will continue negotiations over the Council.
summer to finalise the shape of the next
European Parliament: • MEPs will then finalise the number,
composition and leadership of new
• Elected MEPs from national parties will Parliamentary Committees.
form new political groupings for the
2019-24 term in June. Once the political • Member State leaders will begin to put
groups have finalised their composition forward candidates for European
and structure, they will elect Chairs who Commissioners who will be confirmed
will collectively determine the allocation through Parliamentary hearings in the
of MEPs to Committees. autumn. In October the European
Parliament and the European Council will
• The new European Parliament will meet hold votes on the composition of the
for its first Plenary session on 2 July in College of Commissioners.
Strasbourg, France and elect its first
President for a 2½ year term. The
European Parliament will subsequently
Key policy areas
for the tech sector
POLICY FOCUS AREAS DIGITAL SERVICES TAX
The taxation of the digital economy was
The European Parliament’s policy agenda will already a focus under the previous Parliament
be shaped by the European Council’s as well as the campaign trail for the elections.
Strategic Agenda and the European After no agreement was found on how to tax
Commission’s priorities and annual work digital companies the EU has turned to the
programme (expected this autumn). OECD for an answer and will revive EU talks if
However, several key issues are already the OECD does not provide a solution.
expected to shape the digital economy in the
next legislative term.
ONLINE CONTENT
Broadly speaking the digital economy no
The information that consumers share and
longer has the same credentials in the eyes of
view online will remain to be a topic of
policy makers. After public controversy and
intense discussion, with debates over
the ‘tech lash’ against tech giants, the next
freedom of expression, whether content
mandate will take place in a different political
should be moderated online and what should
environment as policymakers continue to
be done to address the spread of
work on key outstanding areas.
disinformation. This could include the re-
opening of the EU’s e-Commerce Directive,
6 | The European elections and the tech sectorthe cornerstone of how platforms behave ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
online.
As one of the buzzwords in any policymaker’s
DATA PROTECTION phraseology, how the EU competes
internationally is set to remain a puzzle as
With recent controversy surrounding privacy officials apply frameworks such as newly
online, how user data is used and collected produced EU ‘Ethics guidelines for
will remain front of mind for policymakers. trustworthy AI’. Legislative deliberations will
The e-Privacy Regulation remains a major continue over how AI affects competition,
outstanding piece in this context, and debates online bias and a host of other areas.
will continue over whether to pass the
European Commission’s proposal, which is TECHNICAL STANDARDS
still being reviewed by the Council of the EU,
or to take a fresh approach. Aside from legislative policy to frame the
rules surrounding new technologies, EU work
PLATFORMS REGULATION will continue on categorising and providing
guidance for fast-paced high-tech areas such
The European Commission has just as 5G, autonomous vehicles, smart cities,
established an Observatory for the Platform drones and urban mobility.
Economy to monitor platforms’ business
practices and the enforcement of a recently SHARING ECONOMY
passed ‘Platform to Business’ Regulation. This
will inform future scrutiny of how platforms The distinction between amateur and
and intermediaries sit between businesses professional users of the sharing economy will
and users or consumers. remain a topic of ongoing debate. Other
questions surrounding worker protection in
CYBERSECURITY the gig economy, taxation and the sharing of
data with authorities are also likely to feature
With a dedicated cybersecurity agency, the prominently in debates.
European Union Agency for Network and
Information Security (ENISA), the EU is
increasingly raising cybersecurity as a priority
area. Remaining issues surrounding minimum
standards, liability and the collective benefit
of cyber resilience will continue to be
discussed.
7 | The European elections and the tech sectorKey newcomers to watch
Note: This is a preliminary list that does not take into account the upcoming appointment of committee
chairs and party group coordinators.
Katarina Patrick
Barley Breyer
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Germany • Country: Germany
• Party: Sozialdemokratische Partei (S&D) • Party: Piratenpartei Deutschland
(Greens)
PUBLIC POSITIONS
PUBLIC POSITIONS
• Katarina Barley is the current Federal
Minister of Justice and Consumer • He is an advocate of privacy online and
Protection of Germany. has spoken against state surveillance.
• She is an advocate of strong data • He has spoken in favour of increasing
protection rules and fair competition. lobbying transparency and adopting
• She has spoken in favour of increased clearer rules on conflicts of interests.
regulation of online platforms, including • He is against corporate influence in
greater algorithm transparency, but she policymaking.
has occasionally sided with larger
platforms and has opposed mandatory
upload filters for copyright infringement.
Manuel Alexandra
Bompard Geese
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: France
• Country: Germany
• Party: La France Insoumise (GUE-NGL)
• Party: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Greens)
PUBLIC POSITIONS PUBLIC POSITIONS
• Manuel Bompard is an AI engineer.
• Alexandra Geese is an Interpreter in
• He has confirmed his aspiration to
the European Parliament.
work on issues related to industry,
• She is an advocate of digital justice and
research and innovation in the next
freedom of the internet.
European Parliament.
• She has spoken in favour of data
• His policy priorities are algorithmic
protection, non-discriminatory
transparency and data protection.
algorithms, investment in artificial
intelligence and digital taxation.
8 | The European elections and the tech sectorKey newcomers to watch
Marina Marcel
Kaljurand Kolaja
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Estonia • Country: Czech Republic
• Party: Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond • Party: Česká pirátská strana (unaffiliated)
(S&D)
PUBLIC POSITIONS
PUBLIC POSITION • Patrick Breyer is a former Technical
• Marina Kaljurand is a Member of the Product Manager in an open source
Estonian Parliament and an expert on software company.
cybersecurity and • He is an advocate of data protection,
telecommunications. privacy and freedom of expression.
• Her party’s policy priorities are to • He has spoken against internet
develop the digital single market, censorship.
liberalising the market for digital • He has an interest in issues such as the
services and investing in the digital digital single market, cybersecurity,
economy. copyright and emerging digital
technologies.
Nathalie Alessandra
Loiseau Todde
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: France • Country: Italy
• Party: La republique en Marche (ALDE) • Party: Movimento 5 Stelle (EFDD)
PUBLIC POSITIONS PUBLIC POSITIONS
• She has spoken in favour of increasing • Alessandra Todde is a computer science
the taxation of digital services. engineer and former CEO of a leading
• As lead candidate of La Republique en European manufacturer of IT and Office
Marche, she represented her party’s Automation products and services.
policies calling for digital taxation and • She advocates an end to gender bias in
independent 5G infrastructure technology and promoting digital skills
• She has also proposed reforms to among young girls.
competition policy.
9 | The European elections and the tech sectorKey veterans to watch
Andrus Brando
Ansip Benifei
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Estonia • Country: Italy
• Party: Eesti Reformierakond (ALDE) • Party: Partito Democratico (S&D)
PUBLIC POSITIONS PUBLIC POSITIONS
• Andrus Ansip is the European • Brando Benifei was a member of the
Commission Vice-President for European Parliament’s Committee on
the Digital Single Market. Employment and Social Affairs.
• His main priorities include geo- • His main interests include the Digital
blocking, breaking down national Agenda and technology-related issues, in
barriers in telecommunications. particular their impact on creating new
regulation and fighting cybercrime jobs and youth employment.
• He has spoken against changing the • He has spoken against the EU Copyright
liability regime of online platforms and Directive.
imposing general monitoring
obligations.
Dita Marian-Jean
Charanzová Marinescu
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Czech Republic • Country: Romania
• Party: ANO 2011 (ALDE) • Party: PNL (EPP)
PUBLIC POSITIONS PUBLIC POSITIONS
• Dita Charanzová was the Vice-Chair of • Marian-Jean Marinescu was the Vice-
the Committee on Internal Market and Chair of the EPP group and sat on the
Consumer Protection in the European Transport Committee.
Parliament. • He was particularly active on drone
• She has spoken in favour of updating and aviation policy and was involved
tech regulations so they can be more in a number of key areas including
effective in the digital world. the ‘Basic Regulation’ for the
• She has a wide range of interests related European Aviation Safety Agency.
to the Digital Single Market, including:
smart cities, the sharing economy, data
protection, fair competition, freedom of
movement for digital services.
10 | The European elections and the tech sectorKey veterans to watch
Eva Eva
Kaili Maydell
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Greece • Country: Bulgaria
• Party: KINAL (S&D) • Party: GERB (EPP)
PUBLIC POSITIONS PUBLIC POSITIONS
• Eva Kaili was a member of the • Eva Maydell was a member of the
European Parliament’s Committee on European Parliament’s Committee on
Industry, Research and Energy and Internal Market and Consumer
has been particularly active in the Protection.
field of blockchain technology, e- • She is an advocate of digital innovation,
health, big data, fintech, AI and education and digital skills, and
cybersecurity. entrepreneurship.
• She has spoken in favour of promoting • Some of her policy priorities surround
digital innovations and emerging user privacy, 5G mobile technologies, the
technologies. free movement of data, improving cyber-
security and improving digital skills.
Angelika Johan
Niebler Van Overtveldt
PROFILE PROFILE
• Country: Germany • Country: Belgium
• Party: Christlich-Soziale Union in • Party: Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (ECR)
Bayern e.V. (EPP)
PUBLIC POSITIONS
PUBLIC POSITIONS • Johan Van Overtveld is the former
• Angelika Niebler was a member of the Federal Minister of Finance of
European Parliament’s Committee on Belgium and a former Member of the
Industry, Research and Energy. European Parliament.
• She has been involved in several key • He has spoken against monopolies in
digital files: the EU Cybersecurity Act, the digital economy and in favour of
the Geo-blocking Regulation, and the unbundling online platforms’
Copyright Directive. commercial services.
11 | The European elections and the tech sectorTimeline and next steps
May June July August September October November December
European
MEPs negotiate to form political groups and Committees Hearings of new Commissioners in
Parliament
23-26/5: EU Parliamentary Committees
elections 2/7: First
Parliamentary
21-24/9: Plenary session elects new
session will elect
College of Commissioners. Commission
Parliament’s
President’s inaugural speech to Plenary
President
European
15-18/7: Commission work programme expected
Commission
Commission
President to be
elected in Plenary New Commissioners take up office
Council of the
Romanian Presidency Finnish Presidency
EU
European 12-13/12: Council
28/5: Informal 20-21/6: Council 17-18/10: Council Summit to
Council Summit
post-election Summit elect new Council President
Summit
31/10: Brexit
Council will vote on
the new College of
Commissioners
12 | The European elections and the tech sectorInline Policy in Brussels
If you would like more information about the issues affecting you, or to discuss the political and regulatory
challenges that your business faces, then please get in touch at enquiries@inlinepolicy.com
Shomik Panda Nicolas Acker
Founder and Managing Director Senior EU Affairs Adviser
Shomik specialises in emerging technology policy Nicolas has a 15-year experience working as a EU
areas, with a focus on the collaborative economy. public affairs and advocacy consultant. Throughout
He built his career within major financial his career, he has designed and implemented many
institutions, including as a Vice-President in successful public affairs campaigns whilst leading
Government Relations for JPMorgan, where he the EU public affairs practice of Weber Shandwick
represented the company before key policy and Ogilvy.
makers in the EU.
Denisa Avram Rory Coutts
Policy Analyst Policy Analyst
Denisa is an EU affairs specialist with in-depth Rory is an International Relations and History
knowledge of EU governance and EU public affairs. graduate fascinated by how businesses navigate
She provides policy analysis for the sharing regulatory and political change. He provides
economy, online platforms and transport clients. monitoring and analysis for online platforms and
She holds an Advanced MA degree in EU transport clients.
International Relations and Diplomacy from the Before joining Inline, Rory had a number of roles
College of Europe and a MA in European Public covering political risk, financial services and public
Affairs from Maastricht University, as well as a BA affairs in London. He holds a BSc from the London
in European Studies from Maastricht University. School of Economics, including a year studying with
She speaks English, French, Romanian, Portuguese the British Council at Zhejiang University, China.
and Spanish.
Owain Richards
Policy Analyst
Owain provides political analysis and monitoring for
the sharing economy, online platforms and
emerging technology clients. He has a particular
interest in the short-term accommodation market.
He holds an MA in History from the University of
Cambridge and a MA of Advanced International
Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. He
speaks English, French, Italian and is studying
Turkish.
13 | The European elections and the tech sectorThe specialists in politics and
regulation for the tech sector
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