Squaring the circle?

We have heard a lot about the Federal Network Agency. Around 3,000 employees work at 46 locations nationwide to ensure at least a modicum of fair competition in the energy, telecommunications, digital, postal, and railway sectors. In addition, the employees must also be attentive to people who are harassed by stalking or advertising, or lured into cost traps by fake calls.

In recent years, the BNetzA has requested new positions for statutory duties, which generally result from new tasks arising from legislative processes. Even these positions were only created to a limited extent, leading the unions to view this as a violation of Article 20, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law. However, the absolute squaring of the circle is now imminent. KOMM writes on this:

For example, the BNetzA is set to assume the role of a central supervisory authority and market surveillance body in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. Among other things, its task is to ensure compliance with the European AI Regulation at the national level. This means that, as a market surveillance authority, it will verify whether AI systems meet the legal safety requirements. In addition, it is to issue guidelines explaining how providers and users can comply with transparency obligations and ethical standards.

These new tasks are to be carried out with the existing staff, who are simultaneously under additional pressure, as the BNetzA is also set to cut hundreds of jobs over the next few years. To ensure AI is regulated in a way that benefits people — AI that threatens 60% of all jobs in the coming years — we first need to find and train the right people. This won’t be a job like the ones we’ve known before, where you can just churn out one warning letter after another. It will be a battle against Big Tech that even the EU Commission is struggling with.

This approach by the government seems to be part of a pattern, as this same government is simultaneously pushing through similar cuts to funding in the healthcare and long-term care sectors.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Read more in the ver.di Newslpaper KOMM No. 2/26 p.12

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