Activities of Elena KOUNTOURA related to 2020/2216(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on shaping the digital future of Europe: removing barriers to the functioning of the digital single market and improving the use of AI for European consumers
Amendments (30)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that European leadership can be a realitythe EU must ensure its digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy in the digital field by leading the way in developing and using trustworthy and human-centric AI technologies and applications that benefit people and society as a whole, while at the same time ensuring a high level of transparency, data protection, ethical standards, digital and fundamental rights protection, and defining global standards in these areas; notes that a second wave of digitalisation based on industrial data lies ahead; underlines that a common EU approach can make Europe the most innovative region in the world by 2030sustainable approach to technologies creates a competitive edge and can make Europe the most innovative region in the world by 2030 by developing and deploying cutting-edge, transparent, ethical and secure AI technologies and applications on the basis of the Union's values; underlines that tackling the digital divide and digital literacy is key for Europe to be at the forefront of this second digitalisation wave; stresses that the EU can only reap the full benefits of AI technologies if it is available and accessible to all;
Amendment 9 #
1 a. Emphasizes the need to further support the uptake by the public sector and the EU industry, notably SMEs and start-ups, of advanced digital and related technologies, including in particular high performance computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity as well as other leading edge and future technologies, such as distributed ledgers;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Welcomes the seven key principles and the objectives put forward by Member States in the Berlin Declaration on Digital Society and Value-based Digital Government which represent an important step towards fair, inclusive and cooperative digital modernisation of the public sector, as well as their commitment to strengthen digital participation and digital inclusion so as to foster a value- based digital transformation by promoting fundamental rights and democratic values, encouraging digital empowerment and literacy, and ensuring security, sustainability, and technological sovereignty in the digital sphere; emphasises that public authorities and institutions of Member States must lead by example to strengthen the tenets of the European Union by implementing the principles of the Berlin Declaration in the digital sphere; calls on the Commission to support, promote and extend the principles and objectives of the Berlin Declaration with policy initiatives at the European level; calls on the Commission to support the achievement of these key principles and the implementation of the actions and measures by means of funds provided by the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and by Next Generation EU (NGEU)for digital transformation;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Recognizes that trust is essential for the development and implementation of AI technologies and applications; underlines that clear regulatory requirements need to ensure algorithmic transparency of AI technologies and applications which often comprise potential risks, such as opaque decision- making black box effects and biased data sets; underlines that black-box algorithms that entail inexplicable decisions are unacceptable in any sector, especially in a context where AI decision-making has an impact on life or death and the consequences of algorithmic failure could be grave; stresses that the traceability of AI systems should be ensured and that explainability of the algorithmic decision- making process and human oversight should be provided, especially concerning high risk applications of AI; recalls that humans must always be able to review and reverse automated decisions;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Points out that this third industrial revolution will depend on raw materials, much like the first revolution did on coal and the second on oil; notes that in a high demand scenario, the EU would need 18 times more lithium by 2030 and 60 times more by 2050; stresses that demand for raw materials will increase sharply and that EU industries need to respect a binding due diligence mechanism; stresses that mining activities in third countries can be the source of intense pollution, affecting the quality of water, air and soil, and causing deforestation and loss of biodiversity; underlines that strategic autonomy is particularly relevant in the field of digitalisation and AI; stresses that data localisation in the EU is very important for its strategic autonomy and for the reduction of emissions of the EU;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1 e. Recognises the complexities of the digital sphere and the broad impact of the digitalisation process on the society, the economy and the environment of the EU, as well as the need for an ex-ante broad dialogue and democratic scrutiny in order to develop principles, frameworks and instruments that combat potential dangers associated with these technologies in full respect of human rights, and to confront disinformation and technophobia; calls for the reinforcement of the digital policy dialogue with citizens to promote social cohesion and active participation of civil society in democratic political discourse;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1 f. Recognises that 5G is expected to give rise new opportunities for citizens and businesses, through faster browsing, streaming, downloading, as well as better connectivity, which will play a fundamental role in achieving a European gigabit society by 2025; regrets, however, that the Commission has failed to conduct an ex-ante health and environmental impact assessment report on 5G so far, despite warnings being highlighted by many members in the scientific community; underlines the need to bring together researchers from different disciplines, in particular medicine and physics or engineering, to conduct further research into the potential effects of 5G; recalls that the EU should adhere to its own commitments by exercising the precautionary principle with regards to the future deployment of 5G across the bloc, which involves potentially taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty or possible risk; points out that a broad and inclusive debate will ultimately contribute to creating trust among citizens regarding the actions towards continuous development of the mobile networks; calls for an EU communication strategy that provides EU citizens with reliable information as well as awareness raising campaigns regarding 5G and EMF; stresses the importance of counteracting the spread of disinformation related to 5G networks, in particular to false claims that such networks are linked to COVID-19;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)
Paragraph 1 g (new)
1 g. Stresses that the quality of the data sets used is paramount to the performance of AI technologies; is concerned about the risks of biases and discrimination in the development, deployment and use of AI technologies, especially in high risk sectors; highlights that biases inherent to underlying datasets are inclined to gradually increase and thereby perpetuate and escalate existing socially constructed discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, or racialized communities; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take any possible measure to avoid such biases and to ensure the full protection of fundamental rights; stresses that those data sets should be auditable by national supervisory authorities whenever called upon to ensure their conformity with clear quality standards; stresses that human oversight infrastructure must be developed before the implementation of AI technologies in high risk sectors, especially in health and include gender equality experts;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recognises that the EU has an enormously strong SME sector; recalls that this second wage of digitalisation could lead to a strong industrial development of SMEs; calls for a goal of 500 digital unicorns within 10 yearSMEs are the backbone of the European economy and play a key role in developing and implementing digitalisation of the EU industries, economy and society; recalls that this second wage of digitalisation could lead to a strong industrial development of SMEs; regrets that only 17 % of SMEs have so far successfully integrated digital technology into their businesses; calls on the Commission to further support the European Digital Innovation Hubs, which could constitute an effective way to reduce the digital divide, namely by assisting SMEs and start-ups in simplifying access to funding and using digital technology to improve their business operations, production processes, products and services, as well as by supporting testing, match making, industry mapping, providing training and business intelligence, increasing awareness, supporting standard development and networking; points out that the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs should ensure a broad geographical coverage across Europe, including remote, rural and island areas; highlights the need to increase opportunities for SMEs as regards their capacity to adopt innovative technologies and to reduce digital imbalances in terms of capabilities and infrastructure in smaller cities and rural and remote areas; suggests that, like climate mainstreaming, a digital roadmap could be elaborated, to plan a digital transition in a fair, redistributive way for companies and territories;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises that the COVID crisis provides an opportunity to speed up digitalisation; calls for financial incentives for SMEs that want to enter new markets; increase the resilience of the EU supply chains and speed up technology dissemination and digitalisation of the EU industries, economy and society; emphasises, however, that the COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed digital divides among EU countries and among social groups within the same country by putting many citizens at risk of being left behind in the transition towards a digitalised society; highlights that the level of digitalisation of EU industry varies across sectors, particularly among high tech areas and more traditional ones, and also among Member States and regions; calls for financial incentives for SMEs that want to enter new markets; expresses concern regarding the difficulties in accessing EIB funding lines faced by most SMEs and start-ups, particularly those with limited capitalisation, and calls for access requirements to consider the need for improving the digital and AI capabilities of SMEs; recalls the importance of the Digital Europe Programme and other EU Programmes such us Horizon Europe in improving the digital and AI capabilities of SMEs and accelerating the adoption of AI technologies in EU industries;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to stop funding big companies and distributing the remaining funds by a shotgun approach; calls for winnerbeneficiaries to be picked and grown larger; suggests prioritising future areas for digital economic structures; recognises that there are still significant disparities between large companies and SMEs regarding the integration of digital technologies in their business operations; regrets the current lack of innovative capacity of SMEs due to a lack of necessary risk capital, the costs and complexities of administrative procedures, a shortage of adequate skills and lack of access to information; suggests in this regard to undertake actions in order to strengthen access to credit for SMEs including for micro-enterprises and start- ups;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. DHighlights the substantial investment gap faced by digital innovations which represents an important obstacle for the successful scale-up of digital startups; demands an end to the exodus of start-ups that do not receive follow-up- funding in Europe but find it elsewhere; takes note of the Digital Innovation and Scale-up Initiative which is setting up the first regional investment facility that specifically targets digital innovations and the scale-up of digital startups in the CESEE region; calls for the development of similar EU initiatives aiming to leverage funding and competencies, to enhance financing and the access to advisory services for early stage and scale-up of innovative, high- risk deep tech startups with high growth potential, to offer technical assistance to public agencies, to strengthen their capacity to design, develop and implement digital innovation programs and to strengthen strategic investments in the enabling environment for digital innovations and entrepreneurship, with a focus on cross border digital infrastructure and digital skills projects;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for massive investment in clusters of excellence through which smart industry initiatives can be researched, developed, implemented and monitored in an organized and trackable manner;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Demands measures and strong incentives to end to the brain drain and attract the best minds to the EU; recommends sufficient investments in public research, in particular for salaries of researchers;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recognises that AI deployment is key to European competitiveness in the digital era; highlights that to facilitate the uptake of AI in Europe, a common European approach is needed to avoid internal market fragmentation; underlines that only a fully harmonised trustworthy and human-centric AI regulatory framework will have the potential to become a legislative benchmark at an international level;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Underlines that interoperability facilitates cross-border cooperation, promoting European standards as well as successful implementation of policies, and has the potential to decisively contribute to avoid cross-border electronic barriers, further securing the emergence of new, or the consolidation of developing, common public services at the Union level; recalls that in order to eliminate fragmentation of European services, to support fundamental freedoms and operational mutual recognition in the EU, a holistic cross-sector and cross-border approach to interoperability should be promoted in the manner that is the most effective, and the most responsive to end-users;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Recalls that the digitalisation of public administrations and services is crucial to reducing administrative burden on EU industry, including SMEs, and on citizens in general by making their interactions with public authorities faster, more convenient and less costly, as well as by increasing the efficiency, transparency and the quality of the services provided, while at the same time increasing the efficiency of public spending; recommends, in line with the principle of strategic autonomy, the use of Open- Source Software or EU software in public administrations of the EU; stresses that common standards, modular architectures and the use of Open-Source Software in the public sector are facilitators for deploying and developing strategic digital tools and capacities while increasing trust and secure transparency; stresses that software, data and tools generated by the public sector or publicly funded should be reusable and openly accessible as long as this is compliant with fundamental rights;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that access to big data is key for the development of AI; calls for a new approach to data regulation; emphasises the need to ensure that any future AI legislation should take into account and comply with already existing rules enshrined in Union law and the CJEU’s case law; stresses that data localisation in the EU represents an important step towards strategic autonomy and reduction of emissions of the EU; strongly believes the regulation on data governance should include an obligation to process data in the EU, including an obligation of establishment within the EU for intermediaries; recalls the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling on the Schrems II case C- 311/18, from July 16, 2020;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Stresses that it is imperative that workers be properly trained in how to exercise their right to respect for their personal data; calls on the Commission to present a revision of the GDPR in order to adopt more specific measures to ensure the protection of workers' rights and freedoms;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Stresses that privacy and data protection must be guaranteed at all stages of the AI system’s life cycle; emphasises that any future AI legislative initiative should allow individuals to have full control over their own data and that data concerning them will not be used to harm or discriminate against them on the basis of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, language, religion, sexual orientation, political view or belief;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10 c. Underlines the specificity of the health sector; agrees with the Commission that citizens should have secure access to a comprehensive electronic record of data concerning their health and that they should retain control over personal data concerning their health and be able to share it securely with authorised third parties, while unauthorised access should be prohibited, in compliance with data protection legislation; furthermore affirms that data should be stored on secure local servers and processed by independent bodies; stresses that insurance companies or any other service provider should not be allowed to use data from e-health applications for the purpose of discriminating in the setting of prices, as this would violate the fundamental right of access to health;
Amendment 130 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Warns against overregulating AIHighlights the need to ensure that AI be developed and applied within an appropriate EU common regulatory framework which promotes innovation and respects the Union's values and fundamental rights as well as ethical principles such as accountability and transparency; recalls that regulation must be proportional, balanced, agile, future- proofed, permanently evaluated, and based on soft regulation except for high-risk area; calls for an appropriate level of regulation, especially for high-risk areas; stresses that legal certainty fosters technological development and public confidence in new technologies which is essential for the rapid digitalisation of the EU industries, economy and society; points out that an ambitious regulatory framework can stimulate innovation in the AI sector by setting clear limits and standards, in particular for SMEs; considers that the risk based approach shouldn't be limited to 'high risk' and 'low risk' AI applications but should rather be proportionally scaled to the level of risks to coincide with the variety of AI applications, the sector concerned and related risks;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Considers that biometric data should be classified in the highest category of the risk level scale proposed by the Commission given its specific and extremely sensitive nature as well as its potential misuses; strongly believes that the use of biometric data should be subject to specific safeguards such as the informed and explicit consent of their owner, who should have the right to access effective remedies in case of misuse of such data;
Amendment 147 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. CStresses that the Union's sovereignty and strategic autonomy require massive investment in research and innovation, in particular high-quality public research and development and innovation, namely in key enabling technologies and disruptive innovative solutions; recalls that the Member States must uphold their commitment to invest 3% of their GDP in research and development, in order to ensure the Union’s strategic autonomy in the digital field; calls for a European Disruptive Innovation Agency which concentrates on first stage research. ;
Amendment 150 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Stresses that cybersecurity is an essential element of the digital transformation of EU industry and society; underlines that the protection of networks and essential infrastructures is crucial and that strong measures must be taken and highest cybersecurity standards should be established to prevent security breaches, data leaks, data poisoning, cyber-attacks and the misuse of personal data; underlines that effective protection requires EU and national institutions to work together with the support of ENISA to ensure the security, integrity, resilience and sustainability of critical infrastructures and electronic communication networks, in particular 5G networks; calls for the need to implement a coordinated approach, based on the relevant key measures recommended in the 5G cybersecurity toolbox to address the security challenges related to these technologies and to identify effective common methodologies and tools to mitigate risks related to 5G networks; stresses the importance of European technological sovereignty when it comes to cybersecurity of future electronic communication networks; calls for the application, when necessary, of all relevant restrictions on high-risk suppliers for key assets defined as critical and sensitive in the Union’s coordinated risk assessments; reaffirms the importance for the Member States to consider the need to diversify suppliers in order to avoid or limit major dependency on a single supplier; calls on the Commission to explore the use of blockchain-based cybersecurity protocols and applications to improve the resilience, trustworthiness and robustness of AI infrastructures;
Amendment 154 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Welcomes the intention of the Commission to expand the sectoral scope of the services to be covered by the bloc’s cybersecurity rules and to set clear-cut requirements to determine which entities are to be covered within the sectors falling in the NIS scope, as part of the review of the Network and Information Security directive; emphasises the need to transform the directive into regulation, as a means to address the problems of fragmentation that has occurred across Member States, to confront increased cyber threats across the bloc and to bridge the gaps between member state implementation;
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12 c. Recognises that the increased usage of products and industrial devices connected to the internet will give rise to new risks for privacy, information and cybersecurity; points out that Union product safety legislation does not generally provide for specific mandatory essential requirements against cyber- threats affecting the safety of users; stresses that cybersecurity should be acknowledged as an essential requirement in product innovation, the production and development processes, including the design phase (security by design), and should be ensured by new cybersecurity standards throughout a product’s life cycle as well and across its supply chain; highlights that explicit provisions in this respect should be considered for the scope of the relevant EU legislation in order to ensure that the rapid uptake of these products comes with appropriate security and privacy safeguards, to provide better protection of users and increased legal certainty;
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 d (new)
Paragraph 12 d (new)
12 d. Underlines that to reap the full benefits of digitalisation, the Union must address digital literacy and skills for all; underlines that broad social inequality and exclusion are the fundamental cause of some of the AI sector's key challenges; calls on the Commission and the Member States to align the measures shaping the EUs digital transition with the Union’s goals on gender equality; recalls the need to address the gender gap in STEM in which women are still under-represented; calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide appropriate funding to programmes aimed at attracting women to study and work in STEM, to develop strategies aimed at increasing women’s digital inclusion, in fields relating to STEM, AI and the research and innovation sector, and to adopt a multi- level approach to address the gender gap at all levels of education and employment in the digital sector;
Amendment 160 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 e (new)
Paragraph 12 e (new)
12 e. Recognises that the non- governmental sector plays an essential role in the digital transformation of EU society, as it represents an important part of the European economy and the digital market supporting acceptance, inclusion, poverty reduction, equality, protection of rights and harm reduction;