The Director of AKOS and Chair of BEREC, Mag. Marko Mišmaš attended a meeting of the Directors-General for Communications of the EU Member States in Dublin, which took place on 17 and 18 September as part of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. One of the key topics of the meeting was the proposal for the Digital Networks Act (DNA).
During the discussion, Mišmaš presented BEREC’s views on the proposed changes to radio spectrum management. He emphasised that BEREC supports greater European harmonisation where this brings clear added value, but that changes must be evidence-based, targeted and proportionate. Among other things, BEREC highlights the risks of granting spectrum usage rights for an unlimited duration, as this could reduce future market competition, whilst there is no clear evidence that longer licences would, in themselves, guarantee greater investment. It considers a more appropriate approach to be the strengthening of the existing peer review mechanism, common European guidelines and benchmarking, whilst maintaining the necessary national flexibility.
The meeting in Dublin is also significant in terms of the ongoing legislative process concerning the DNA. Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2026 and, in this role, will lead the Council’s work and represent it in negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission. The country holding the Presidency, on behalf of the Council, also leads negotiations in the context of trilogues, in which the institutions seek agreement on the final text of European legislation; BEREC is also actively involved in this process, putting forward its proposals through both the Council and the Parliament.
During its BEREC presidency, AKOS actively contributed to the preparation and coordination of the expert positions of European regulators on the DNA legislative proposal. By participating in the meeting in Dublin, the agency also presents these positions directly at a high level amongst Member States via BEREC, thereby contributing its technical regulatory expertise to discussions which will be significant for the further development of the European regulatory framework for electronic communications.
