2025-10-07 –, Belvedere I/ Security, Compliance & the Law
The 2024 European elections marked the start of the new 5 year mandate of the European Parliament followed by forming a new political direction of the European Commission. What does this change mean for cryptography and its regulation in Europe? How can encryption be framed as a vital tool to secure fundamental rights in the digital age, rather than as a law enforcement nightmare? The talk will primarily focus on the recent developments in political narratives around securing access to encrypted data by law enforcement authorities, the current European Commission’s plans as presented in ProtectEU: the European Internal Security Strategy, and the impact on privacy and security.
On April 1, 2025, the European Commission presented ProtectEU: the European Internal Security Strategy. This strategy sets out the objectives and actions for the next years which the European Commission envisages “to ensure a safer and more secure Europe.” The strategy foresees a framework for access to data by law enforcement authorities. The European Commission plans to prioritize “the preparation of a Technology Roadmap on encryption, to identify and assess technological solutions that would enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data in a lawful manner.” There is an inherent contradiction in an approach that seeks to enhance safety as well as enable access to encrypted data. What does this mean for cryptography, its development, and usage? What can we do to defend the right to encryption and privacy?
Marcel Kolaja is the Policy and Advocacy Director for Europe at Access Now, an organization defending and extending the digital rights of people and communities at risk. He leads a team of digital rights policy experts and drives the advocacy agenda at the intersection of human rights and digital technologies in Europe.
From 2019 through 2024, Marcel served as a Member of the European Parliament. Throughout his tenure, he was also a Member of the Bureau of the European Parliament: from 2019 through 2022 as Vice-President and from 2022 through 2024 as Quaestor.
In his work in the European Parliament, Marcel focused mainly on topics related to fundamental rights and consumer protection in the digital age, privacy protection, cybersecurity, encryption, transparency, Free and Open Source Software, artificial intelligence, the Digital Single Market, and media freedom. Legislative acts that Marcel directly worked on include the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, the Product Liability Directive, the Cyber Resilience Act, the Media Freedom Act, the Political Advertising Regulation, the European Digital Identity, and more.
Marcel graduated from the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University in Brno. He had been working in various capacities in the IT industry in technical and managerial roles before he was elected Member of the European Parliament.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time in the mountains and in nature.