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In the French magazine La Revue des Collectivités Locales, our founding partner Thaima Samman wrote an article (in French) on how public actors broadened their field of action with the rise of digital technology and the internet.

Ces derniers mois, de nombreuses initiatives internationales, européennes et nationales visant à développer des outils numériques pour contenir la propagation de l’épidémie de COVID-19 ont vu le jour. Ces projets soulèvent d’importants enjeux politiques, éthiques et juridiques, qui relèvent à la fois de leur architecture et de leur gouvernance.

These past months, numerous international, European and national initiatives to develop digital tools to contain the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic have sprung forth. These projects raise important legal, ethical and political issues, pertaining to both their architecture and their governance.

With the Covid-19 epidemic and subsequent lockdown, we have developed new actions, such as actively monitoring measures taken by the Government and the European institutions to tackle the crisis, or, with our network FIPRA, an interactive tool compiling the European approaches on contact tracing apps.

The European Commission published its Digital Package on February 19th, 2020, setting the framework for action over the next five years in the digital sphere. The COVID-19 outbreak has, however, forced the European institutions to rapidly switch into crisis management mode; political energy has been drawn towards containing the spread of the virus, with marginal reviews so far of its 2020 Work Programme.

En raison de la pandémie de COVID-19, les institutions européennes ont dû se réorganiser pour faire face et gérer la crise sanitaire et économique.

The adoption of the Law of 10 February, 2020 on the fight against waste and the circular economy is the result of the discussions with all stakeholders throughout 2019. 

L’adoption de la loi du 10 février 2020 relative à la lutte contre le gaspillage et à l’économie circulaire est le fruit d’un travail de consultation de l’ensemble des parties prenantes tout au long de l’année 2019.

Le 19 février, Margrethe Vestager, vice-présidente de la Commission européenne en charge de la concurrence et de la politique numérique, et Thierry Breton, commissaire du marché intérieur…

The situation in France remains calm since the beginning of the crisis. The French population is rather disciplined, understanding and implementing the Government’s measures. At this point in time, the Government is succeeding in avoiding panic to rise in the country.