EU Parliament votes new measures for AI factories, ECJ rules against law on fingerprints in national IDs

 

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“We have the infrastructure covered. We also need to invest in training.”

– said Portuguese member of the European People’s Party (EPP) Maria da Graça Carvalho,  and rapporteur on the amendments to the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, on Wednesday.

Story of the week: On Wednesday, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy voted to improve small business access to AI supercomputers and raise environmental standards for such infrastructure. These amendments to the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking are scheduled for a vote at the Strasbourg plenary on 24 April. Read more.

Don’t miss: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday that a 2019 EU regulation obliging EU citizens to give their fingerprints for national identification cards was based on the wrong legal basis, declaring the EU law entirely invalid. The court in Luxembourg also ruled that the obligation to include two fingerprints, despite affecting fundamental rights, is justified. Even though the legislation was overturned, the ECJ judge ruled that the EU regulation from 2019 remains effective until a new regulation enters into force, expected at the latest in December 2026. Otherwise, it will expire. EU regulators stipulated that national ID cards use fingerprints to increase the security of the identification documents. Read more.