A progressive roadmap for expanding European digital sovereignty

Policy Brief

Every economic, social and political interaction today relies on digital technologies that are disproportionately provided by companies from the USA and China. As recognised by the European Parliament, there is an urgency to produce an alternative that overcomes the severe reduction of (digital) sovereignty for both states and people. Will Europe continue to rely on digital infrastructures dominated by US and China’s Big Tech companies or build its own democratic, public-led systems that serve the people and the planet?

This policy brief by FEPS and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) outlines an ecosystemic and progressive roadmap for strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty, understood as an international endeavour that goes beyond simply expanding access to digital technologies. The author, Cecilia Rikap, Associate Professor in Economics and Head of Research, University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), argues that digital sovereignty, defined as the democratic control by states and their people of essential technologies for their lives and self-government, also requires the capacity to understand and develop technologies with full awareness of their environmental, social, economic, ethical and political implications.

Building on this definition and recognising that digital value chains are dominated by US and, to a lesser extent, Chinese Big Tech companies, the policy brief calls for the creation of a public-led, democratic, and people-centred digital value chain or stack that operates within planetary boundaries. It sets out why such an alternative ecosystem is both necessary and achievable, and why the public sector should take the lead by establishing democratic, public institutions to govern it.

More than ever, we need technologies that empower people and respect the planet, prioritising these goals over private profit, military objectives, and the geopolitical ambitions of a small minority that undemocratically wields global power. Whether the European Union will rise to this challenge remains an open question.