Are you as tired of the cookie banners as we are?

Every website asks the same question: Accept. Reject. Manage preferences. They're annoying, repetitive, and often designed to push you into clicking "Accept All" just to get to the content.

The good news? Brussels has a real chance to get rid of cookie banners for good.

The bad news? EU governments are about to throw that chance away.

As Members of the European Parliament working on the Digital Omnibus, we're fighting to keep one of the best ideas in the proposal: Article 88b. The idea is simple. Instead of being asked on every website you visit, you would set your cookie preference just once, in your browser or on your phone. If you choose not to allow tracking cookies, every website would automatically respect that choice.

No more endless pop-ups. No more hunting for the reject button. No more clicking "Accept All" out of frustration.

This wouldn't weaken your privacy. Quite the opposite, it would strengthen it. Today, many cookie banners are designed to push users into accepting tracking, using confusing layouts and hidden options. When researchers looked at hundreds of European websites, more than half (54%) showed signs of suspected breaches of EU privacy law, including hidden reject buttons, pre-ticked consent boxes, or consent being recorded before any real choice was made. A single browser-based setting would give people a genuine choice without forcing them to make it hundreds of times.

That's exactly why Big Tech and the online advertising industry oppose it. Tracking users across the web is central to their business model, and they've lobbied hard against Article 88b. So far, it's working. In the Council's latest position, Article 88b has been removed, with countries including Germany and France supporting its deletion.

Now the European Parliament has a chance to bring it back. But we need your help.

Tell your national government and your Members of the European Parliament to:

• Keep Article 88b in the Digital Omnibus.

• Replace endless cookie banners with one simple privacy setting.

• Give people real control over their privacy without making them fight for it on every website.

Civil Society organisations from across Europe have already joined forces to save Article 88b. We are supporting their cause with this petition.

It’s time to kill the cookie banner, together.

Markéta Gregorová and Damian Boeselager

Shadow Rapporteurs for the Digital Omnibus, Greens/EFA