Vilnius, LITHUANIA – While Brussels keeps promising to cut red tape, Lithuania’s upcoming EU Presidency offers a chance to deliver. Yet proposals to exclude foreign technology and overhaul digital networks, alongside looming EU measures on artificial intelligence, risk doing the opposite.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) today published 13 policy recommendations calling on Lithuania’s incoming EU Council Presidency to help keep markets open and turn the EU’s simplification agenda into action.
The recommendations come as a CCIA Europe delegation visits Vilnius to meet government officials, policymakers, and other stakeholders. Lithuania’s thriving digital economy positions it well to shape EU tech policy when it assumes the Council Presidency in January 2027.
CCIA Europe encourages Lithuania to champion open European markets by opposing blanket restrictions on digital services based on a provider’s origin or ownership. Such restrictions, recently proposed under the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) and EU procurement rules, would reduce choice and raise costs for users by creating captive markets.
Europe’s AI ambitions face a potential setback as the European Commission actively considers reopening EU copyright rules. Yet existing text-and-data-mining (TDM) exceptions already balance the interests of rightsholders and innovators. Lithuania can support AI innovation by preserving the current framework, rather than introducing mandatory licensing, arbitration, or transparency requirements that would make AI training more difficult.
The proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) also risks undermining the EU’s simplification efforts and digital ambitions, CCIA Europe warns. Lithuanian leadership in the Council will be vital to preventing the extension of traditional telecoms obligations to private networks and content delivery networks under the DNA, particularly as the latest proposals in the European Parliament already risk opening the door to network fees.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Europe’s Head of Policy and Deputy Head of Office, Alexandre Roure:
“Europe can build a competitive tech sector, but not by cutting off its firms from global tools and markets. Lithuania knows the value of an open economy, with over half of its tech and communications sector revenue coming from international markets. The Lithuanian Council Presidency is the perfect moment to bring that same approach to the whole of the EU.”
“Brussels keeps talking about simplification, but new EU tech laws keep adding more red tape while efforts to fix existing rules remain modest. Europe needs clear, consistent, and innovation-friendly rules. In 2027, Lithuania has a chance to turn the EU’s simplification promises into meaningful action.”
Notes for editors
The full document with CCIA Europe’s 13 key recommendations to the Lithuanian EU Council Presidency is available here: https://ccianet.org/library/13-tech-recommendations-for-the-lithuanian-eu-council-presidency-ccia-europe/
