Pieter Haeck
Senior technology reporter @POLITICO.eu
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- NEW: The European Commission plans new funding instruments to invest in "high-tech defense startups and scale-ups", as it seeks to ensure that its startups benefit from the "current geopolitical context." Leaked draft of an upcoming startup strategy HERE. pro.politico.eu/news/198666
- NEW: The European Union secured a rare transatlantic win after the U.S. decided on Tuesday to roll back upcoming Biden-era caps on the export of artificial intelligence chips. Much to the Commission's delight. www.politico.eu/article/eu-w...
- NEW: EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen will meet with CEOs from Apple, Google and Meta in the next days after a months-long attack from U.S. tech executives on EU tech rules. pro.politico.eu/news/198568
- Ooooow snap — Key European lawmaker Eva Maydell rebukes the EU's plan to become more technologically sovereign, arguing that "some trains have left the station" and that it's time to "sober up." Follow this and more at @politico.eu's AI & Tech Summit. www.politico.eu/article/its-...
- Also telling: a European Commission top official opened the door for a "targeted" amendment of the EU's binding artificial intelligence rulebook — saying the executive is open to reflect on that if simplification doesn't suffice. More here: www.politico.eu/article/gpai...
- The "Green Deal" in action. (Just back from a trip where I did Belgium-Prague by night train, and Berlin-Belgium by night train back). www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
- Friday night scoop just because: the Commission’s plan how it seeks to simplify recordkeeping under the GDPR. pro.politico.eu/news/198049
- SCOOP — The EU’s tech boss is going to Japan in a bid to boost the digital ties between the EU and Japan — meanwhile, a trip to the US is still not materializing. Sign of the times.
- 🚨 We got hold of the full letter in which the U.S. administration urges the European Commission to "pause" AI Act implementation and lashes out against the code of practice. For our subscribers, here: api.politico.eu/editorial_do...
- The U.S. piles pressure on the EU in yet another area of tech regulation: a voluntary set of rules for the most advanced AI models. Commission confirmed it got a letter from the U.S Mission to the EU. (First reported by Bloomberg.) pro.politico.eu/news/197720
- Microsoft said Wednesday it will retain the option to sue if it is ordered to suspend European cloud operations amid concerns that services could get caught up in a transatlantic trade war. www.politico.eu/article/micr...
- Microsoft president Brad Smith landed in Brussels on Wednesday, touting European investments and striking a conciliatory tone about EU legislation amid strained U.S.-EU tech ties www.politico.eu/article/micr...
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- WEERAL Zweden. Saai. En toch niet die houthakker-berghutten-vibe?
- NEW: The European Parliament has piled pressure on the European Commission on the matter of Hungary's possible use of facial recognition technology to identify Pride attendees — with 62 lawmakers signing a set of questions scrutinizing it. Exclusive, in Morning Tech: pro.politico.eu/news/197922
- The European Union is looking into whether Hungary’s plan to deploy facial recognition technology to identify people attending LGBTQ+ Pride events is illegal. It marks the first real test of landmark EU AI rules. W/ @krmcsngr.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/hung...
- Microsoft president Brad Smith landed in Brussels on Wednesday, touting European investments and striking a conciliatory tone about EU legislation amid strained U.S.-EU tech ties www.politico.eu/article/micr...
- European Union auditors on Monday warned that the bloc is dangerously reliant on China for mainstream microchips powering everything from cars to washing machines. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
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- Vermiglio 📽️ Trage film — aanvankelijk wat te traag —, met weliswaar parels van beelden. Tot de dramatische omwentelingen, die quasi allemaal draaien rond eer, verwachtingen en sociale status, je om de oren slagen.
- The U.S. piles pressure on the EU in yet another area of tech regulation: a voluntary set of rules for the most advanced AI models. Commission confirmed it got a letter from the U.S Mission to the EU. (First reported by Bloomberg.) pro.politico.eu/news/197720
- The European Union is looking into whether Hungary’s plan to deploy facial recognition technology to identify people attending LGBTQ+ Pride events is illegal. It marks the first real test of landmark EU AI rules. W/ @krmcsngr.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/hung...
- Some good old party politics around the EU's fines against Meta/Apple. The Socialists claim the fines as a win for their Executive Vice President, Teresa Ribera, and urge the European People's Party EVP, Henna Virkkunen, to hurry up with her probes into Big Tech. www.politico.eu/article/sd-u...
- Keep an eye on Washington DC's reaction to this: The European Commission issued the first fines under its Digital Markets Act (DMA) on Wednesday, slapping tech giants Apple and Meta with penalties for breaching the EU’s new digital rulebook. pro.politico.eu/news/197551
- Always a pleasure to sit down with someone who isn’t a Brussels insider to talk about Brussel. The EU never cared much about startups, but Irish tech billionaire John Collison says the tide is turning. pro.politico.eu/news/197504
- Now free to read for those still without PRO subscription: www.politico.eu/article/eu-b...
- Were you thinking of sending your artificial intelligence helper to an online meeting with the European Commission? Think again. The Commission banned AI agents from its online meetings. pro.politico.eu/news/197231
- Companies are starting to post their earnings for the first quarter of this year — and expect a lot of nasty surprises due to the unfolding global trade war and tariff uncertainty. Up first: European chips champion ASML. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
- Were you thinking of sending your artificial intelligence helper to an online meeting with the European Commission? Think again. The Commission banned AI agents from its online meetings. pro.politico.eu/news/197231
- What I don’t get: German parties have a coalition deal, right? Why wait another month for entering office?
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- You give them a couple of days to read it and organize digital vote?
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- Why so long.
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- But why so long.
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- In Belgium you had a coalition deal on a Friday, party congresses and votes on Sunday and government being sworn in on a Monday. Watch and learn, Germany.
- Sport gaat vaak over hoger, sneller, beter, maar vandaag zag ik op het EK halve marathon in Leuven een oudere dame vlak voor de bezemwagen op haar tempo — en duidelijk in controle van haar lichaam — de race netjes afmaken. Ze werd luidkeels toegejuicht. Prachtig.
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- Brussels is no longer praising and defending its tech rulebooks. The focus is instead on preventing the EU’s AI regulations from turning into another burden for companies — a narrative pushed by Big Tech lobby groups and industry frontrunners. ANALYSIS here: www.politico.eu/article/how-...
- Luckily we now have a global trade war to forget about the biggest problem of all.
- The European Commission is finalizing a plan to make its artificial intelligence rules more palatable to companies, as they scramble to adapt to American tariffs that have sent shockwaves through the global economy. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
- NEW: The EU is launching an attempt to make its artificial intelligence rulebook digestible for the industry. In a new plan, to be presented on Wednesday, it says it's open to "minimize" compliance burden. Also in the plan: compute power, data, skills, AI uptake. pro.politico.eu/news/196738
- Donald Trump is trying to purge United States research institutions of scholars who study purportedly progressive issues. The European Union is tripping over itself to take them in. Story w/ the great @aitorehm.bsky.social & Giedre Peseckytė. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
- The amount of video call meeting systems I use in one week is total madness: Teams Google Meet WebEx Zoom Interactio Slack WhatsApp ...
- Forgot Signal.
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- Think it matters to look at the timestamp of both articles.
- OpenAI announces a massive $40 billion funding round, led by tech conglomerate Softbank, which the company will use to pursue its path to artificial general intelligence* (*the moment machines will outpace humans). openai.com/index/march-...
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View full threadNothing is off the table, not even putting the region under the guardianship of Belgium's federal government. www.knack.be/nieuws/belgi...
- But then the issue will be handled by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, of the separatist N-VA, who vowed to break up the country. Surreal, right? It's Belgium.
- Everyone agrees there's an urgent need for a government, nobody knows how to get there. There are creative solutions: the N-VA was offered a government commissioner (a rank lower than minister) to make their government participation more digestible.
- Last week, the PS floated the idea of supporting only the installation of a government, but then the government would have to seek a majority in Parliament for every policy issue.
- Shouldn't be so difficult, right? It is. The Dutch-speaking majority included N-VA, a Flemish separatist party. The French socialists of PS, who were part of the French-speaking majority, rejected that.
- But — the Dutch-speaking liberals of Open VLD don't want to go into a government without the separatist N-VA (which has been bloodsucking the Open VLD). The coalition talks collapsed several times. www.politico.eu/article/coal...
- Even worse, some parts of the Brussels region have been gripped by spiralling drug-related violence. "Like an episode of the Wire", POLITICO's Hanne Cokelaere wrote in February www.politico.eu/article/brus...
- So, what's holding politicians back? Well, Brussels is peak Belgium. The region is bilingual (with a majority of Francophones), and its Parliament has both Dutch—and French-speaking elected politicians. A government needs a majority in both (!) language groups.
- What's the deal, you would say? True, Belgium is known for its long periods without a government ... at the federal level. But Brussels can't really afford to have no government at the moment.
- The region's finances are horrible. In December, estimates were that this year's deficit would grow to 2.46 billion (!) on a budget of just 6.3 billion. The debt rate? A whopping 265 (!) percent. www.bruzz.be/actua/politi...
