MEETING WITH THE SWEDISH PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL

On March 9th, MEP Zarzalejos met with the Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömer, to discuss the priorities related to Justice and Home Affairs on which the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union is working.

The meeting focused in particular on the progress of the proposal for a regulation to combat child sexual abuse presented by the European Commission in May last year. Both the EU Council (where all 27 Member States are represented) and the European Parliament (directly elected) are currently examining the proposal under the ordinary legislative procedure, where they participate on an equal footing.

In the European Parliament, Javier Zarzalejos is the main rapporteur for the European Parliament’s position and will present his report on April 14.

While waiting for the Council to present its position, the aim is for the Council and Parliament to reach an agreement on a joint text before the end of the current parliamentary term and thus ensure that the legislation enters into force before August 2024 when the current temporary regulation that allows Internet service providers to conduct, on a voluntary basis, the processing of data to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse content from their services expires.

On July 1, Spain will take over from Sweden in the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and, therefore, Spain will be in charge of leading, on behalf of the Member States, the negotiations with the European Parliament to reach the common legislative text.