Macron slams EU's slow enforcement of digital rules on US tech
French President Emmanuel Macron criticised the pace of the EU’s investigation into tech companies under the Digital Services Act (DSA) on Friday, urging the Commission to make progress on open cases into US companies.
Speaking at an event in northeastern France, Macron pointed out that EU investigations have been open for two years – which he described as “way too slow”.
“A lot of people at the Commission and member state level are scared to fight this fight because we currently have a US offensive against the DSA and DMA enforcement,” he said, also referencing the bloc’s big tech rulebook, the Digital Markets Act.
Macron’s comments come hard on the heels of the US trade delegation’s visit to Brussels earlier this week, where US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pressed the EU to “roll back” its tech rules against US tech companies in exchange for better steel and aluminium tariff rates.
“We have a real geopolitical battle to fight,” Macron warned on Friday. “This isn’t Russian interference; it’s plainly coming from the Americans.”
Asked for a response to the French president’s attack, the Commission’s digital spokesperson Thomas Regnier defended its enforcement of the DSA and the DMA, adding that it’s “fully behind our digital legislation”.
“Some cases take a bit more time than others,” Regnier added, suggesting this is “because the DSA investigations are broad”.
Long-running Commission DSA probes on US tech firms include cases on X and Meta. It is also investigating Apple, Meta, and Google under the DMA.
Frenchman Thierry Breton, a former internal market commissioner who helped draft the bloc’s digital rulebook, also recently warned EU lawmakers against caving to US lobbying against its tech rules.
(nl)
