Lawmakers need to resolve how to start negotiations with EU member states to agree on choice of next European Data Protection Supervisor.
A decision on who will be the next European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) – the privacy watchdog of the EU institutions – is likely to come in March at the earliest, sources familiar with the matter told Euronews. The mandate of the current EDPS, Poland’s Wojciech Wiewiórowski, expired early December.
After hearings in January, the European Parliament and the EU member states both favoured different candidates from among the four contenders shortlisted by the European Commission.
The Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, LIBE, voted to appoint long-time Commission official Bruno Gencarelli, from Italy, while the member states are backing Wiewiórowski to stay on for another mandate.
On Wednesday, the Parliament’s group leaders backed the LIBE decision. The Parliament now has to set up a committee with the council to come to a decision; but the configuration of that committee is still to be decided.
Last week, think tank Centre for AI & Digital Humanism sent a letter, signed by a list of privacy professors, to the Parliament and Commission Presidents, signalling Gencarelli should be conflicted from the role.
The next privacy regulator should not come from within the Commission’s ranks, given the remit of the job, they warned. Early last year, the EDPS ruled for example that the use of Microsoft 365 by the EU executive was illegitimate.
Although the EDPS is not able to fine Big Tech companies for breaches of the EU privacy rules — that’s a competence of the national data protection authorities — it publishes opinions on legislative proposals.
