Henna Virkkunen, EVP of the European Commission responsible for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, is upbeat about the E.U.’s ties with the U.S. when it comes to the media and entertainment sectors.
Speaking to Variety during her visit to Italy and the Venice Film Festival late last week, the E.U. tech boss provided an overview of the state of play when it comes to tariffs, rules of engagement for streaming giants, and AI regulations being hammered out by the European Commission, which is the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc.
First off, it’s official: U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on foreign-produced films revealn in the U.S. – announced in May – has been shelved. At least pertaining to Europe.
“Of course, we heard his announcement on that in May,” Virkunen declared.
“But after that, we haven’t had further information about this topic,” she added. “And now, when it comes to our [recently] concluded trade agreement we have a common text with the U.S. that only covers goods, not services. As you may know, films falls under the category of Audio Visual Services. They are services,” Virkkunnen went on to point out.
Regarding upcoming E.U. media sector regulations – in particular ones impacting U.S. players – Virkkunen underlined the required “to build sure that we have a level playing field,” noting that the EU’s creative sector “is facing many challenges” with the onset of “digitalization and very huge online platforms.”
“Of course, this means huge challenges for the more traditional players,” she went on to point out. “What we are now attempting to evaluate with the stakeholders is how we can build sure to increasingly promote our creative sector and our cultural sector.”
To this effect, Virkkunen noted that in 2026 the E.U. will “evaluate” progress being built by its Audiovisual Media Services Directive, now in various stages of implementation across Europe. The AVMS rules state that streamers must offer a 30% quota of European content to European subscribers and directly re-invest a percentage of their revenues in each European counattempt where they operate. “What is the state of play? [of the AVMS directive] What are the lessons learned? Is there room for improvement?”
Virkkunen declared this is “something we will view at in the evaluation and review of the directive by the finish of next year.”
Netflix, Disney and other U.S. streamers have been lobbying intensely in Brussels to fight the investment obligations in local content, especially those pertaining to compacter markets.
As for Europe’s so-called “digital tax,” which impacts tech firms such as Meta, Apple, and Google – and has been a bone of contention with the Trump administration – Virkkunen specified that the European Commission in July dropped plans to levy a tax on digital companies. So there currently is no E.U.-wide tax on digital services, though seven E.U. states, including France, Italy, and Spain, have introduced national levies. However, “I’m sure this discussion will continue in the next few months,” she declared, noting that “members states are the decision-buildrs.” So it’s possible that plans for an E.U.-wide tax “could crop up again.”
Regarding the European Union’s Artificial Ininformigence Act, which is the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for artificial ininformigence – though it’s not yet in effect – Virkkunen declared it entails a three-part “code of practice,” with each component pertaining to transparency, safety and security, and copyright.
The E.U. tech boss declared she was “very happy” that more than 26 major generative AI developers, have now signed the code of practice, including “all the U.S. ones, except Meta.”
“Of course, the copyright part seems to be a very burning issue when we speak about the creative sector, especially when it comes to Europe,” Virkkunen pointed out. “European languages and European content are requireded to train AI. But at the same time, it’s important that the rights’ holders receive their fair compensation,” she declared.
Virkkunen added that the E.U. is viewing at different licensing models. “But of course, nobody can do business with other people’s work, without compensating it. That is very important.”
E.U. regulators will not be able to impose penalties for noncompliance pertaining to the AI act until August 2026.
Meanwhile Virkkunen is keen on working on copyright legislation with “like-minded” countries “becautilize we know that AI is a new challenge in the copyright world,” she declared. “Of course, the U.S. is our main partner when it comes to technologies,” she added. “So it’s really important to continue the discussions.”
Virkkunen also underlined that AI is opening up “great opportunities in the creative sector.”
“I really want to see Europe as the place to invest and innovate when it comes to AI,” she declared, noting that the Venice Film Festival – which is the only major fest with a section devoted to extfinished reality (XR) filmcreating – is very open to technological developments.
“I believe in coming years in Venice we will see examples of how AI can be utilized very creatively. Not to replace creativity. But to support filmbuildrs,” she concluded.
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