European Union’s Quest for Digital Sovereignty: Policy Continuations and Strategy Innovations

Abstract

: The paper deals with the EU “digital sovereignty” defined as a capacity to influence norms and standards of the information technology in order to preserve the integrity of the internal market, foundational EU values, and the capacity to act as an independent entity in the geopolitical struggle among the great powers for control of the digital sphere. Digital sovereignty was set as a top priority for the next mandate of the European Commission. The article treats the efforts of the EU to achieve digital sovereignty in three interrelated fields such as digital economy, data protection and artificial intelligence, based on the author’s assumption that traditional normative and economic clout of the EU gives it the best chances to succeed quickly exactly in these fields. The author analyses the various legislative acts either adopted or proposed by EU authorities in the field of digital markets and services and their intended effects on major multinationals in the digital economy as a continuation of previous EU efforts in the competition and data protection fields, where the main idea is to protect the integrity of the single market and human rights of EU citizens. In the field of artificial intelligence, in addition to these aims, there is also the wish to engage in strategic competition with China and the US and to offer a third path, one based on the EU values that might attract a following among other states.