Roberta Metsola Cannot Champion the Rule of Law in Malta While Undermining Democratic Principles in Brussels
BRUSSELS — European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is trying to push through a controversial law on scanning child abuse content online even though it has been repeatedly slapped down by her own chamber, according to a document seen by POLITICO.
In a step that diplomats deem “without precedent,” the top EU politician has asked member countries in the Council to approve a bill that her own Parliament shot down in a plenary vote in March.
At stake is whether the EU allows tech platforms to voluntarily scan their services for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The issue has been mired in controversy, with police and child rights advocates and European commissioners arguing that a lack of legislation allows predators and pedophiles to operate with impunity online. Privacy campaigners, meanwhile, have argued the proposals could lead to unacceptable mass surveillance and the end of encryption.
Ambassadors on Friday will consider an “invitation of the President of the European Parliament [to] proceed with the Council’s first reading position” on the proposal to allow tech companies to choose to scan for CSAM, said a note by the Cyprus presidency of the Council of the EU dated June 22.
In the note, Cyprus asked capitals to “carefully consider” the invitation, “even if this would be without precedent in the present circumstances.”
Talks between the Parliament and the Council collapsed in March, just days before the temporary legislation was due to expire. Lawmakers in the Parliament later resisted last-ditch pressure from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, four European commissioners, tech giants Meta, Google and Microsoft and numerous children’s charities, eventually voting down an attempt to pass the bill in March by a margin of 311 to 228 with 92 abstentions.
A spokesperson for Metsola said the issue was “raised and asked for” at a meeting of heads of the Parliament’s political groups.
An EU parliament official said the European People’s Party, the group to which Metsola belongs, raised it and no groups objected. The official was granted anonymity to disclose confidential details of the meeting.
Lawmakers working on the legislation now feel Metsola has gone over their heads to invite the Council to adopt a position that the Parliament had already rejected, according to two Parliamentary aides.
Markéta Gregorová, a Czech lawmaker with the Greens group in the Parliament and shadow lead lawmaker on the law, described herself as “extremely surprised” by the move and said Metsola’s invitation is “unacceptable and undermines the European Parliament position.”
Hilde Vautmans, a Belgian lawmaker with the liberal Renew group and shadow lead lawmaker on the file, said reopening debate on the temporary law is a “political dead end.” “Parliament has rejected it twice, and that will not change,” she said.
Spokesperson for the liberal Renew group Nick Petre said it was “concerned” the move to reopen negotiations could weaken Parliament’s position to negotiate rules on child sexual abuse material. “After trilogue negotiations on the interim file failed, it is difficult to see how reviving that process now would bring us closer to a lasting solution. On the contrary, it could delay progress on the comprehensive legislation that victims, law enforcement and online platforms all need,” he said.
The invitation to ambassadors to proceed has not been previously reported.
Close the legal gap
The European Commission proposed the temporary CSAM bill as a stopgap measure to allow companies to scan while legislators agreed on a more permanent solution.
As talks stalled on the latter, legislators were working to extend the former — at least until the dispute over the stopgap measure came to a head earlier this year. The Council and the Parliament couldn’t agree on terms to extend it, so the law lapsed in early April and companies were left without a legal basis for voluntary scanning.
Tech firms continued to scan, despite the legal limbo.
Metsola called publicly to look at “how to find an agreement on a second reading of this file,” in an address to EU leaders last week.
Cyprus in Monday’s note said there was a “pressing need” to close that legal gap. It said it “takes note of the political signal from the President of the European Parliament to encourage continuing the work on the proposal.”
If capitals choose to adopt their position, the law does not automatically pass: The Parliament would need to either accept it or re-enter negotiations. “There is no certainty that [the Parliament] would adopt the legislative act in second reading in line with the Council’s first reading position,” Cyprus wrote in the note.
Gregorová rejected the suggestion that lawmakers would budge. “The Parliament mandate is clear: A majority voted it down, meaning that we reject the extension.”
According to EU procedures, if capitals and the Parliament continue to disagree, they could move to a rare procedure known as conciliation.
Lawmakers will meet next Monday for a political negotiation on the other, permanent bill to tackle CSAM, though a deal at that meeting is unlikely, two Parliament officials and one national official involved in the process said last week.
Max Griera contributed reporting.
This article was updated to include a comment from a spokesperson for Metsola and a Renew spokesperson and additional detail.