On Thursday, Hungary, the autumn's presidency, had hoped that it would finally be possible to vote on the EU Commission's so-called CSAM proposal – dubbed "chat control" by critics.
But it won't happen.
After an ambassador meeting on Monday, it is now announced that there will only be a status update when the countries' justice and interior ministers meet in Luxembourg on Thursday. "We don't have a qualified majority yet," according to an EU source.
In Sweden, the government has agreed to the compromise proposal presented by Hungary. However, the disagreement is still significant in many member states, not least Germany. Even though there is strong support for taking action against abuse material, critics believe that the proposal involves excessive surveillance of chats and email messages.
If and when EU countries can agree on a compromise, the issue will proceed to final negotiations with the EU Parliament, which last year backed a significantly more restrained version of the proposal.
