EuroDIG 2026 debates Europe’s path towards digital sovereignty

European policymakers, technical experts, and civil society representatives debated how Europe can reduce its dependence on foreign digital technologies without fragmenting the open internet during a EuroDIG 2026 session on digital sovereignty.

The discussion reflected growing concern in Europe that heavy reliance on non-European cloud providers, AI systems, platforms, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure has become a strategic vulnerability affecting not only the economy but also democratic resilience and political self-determination.

Fabrizia Benini, head of unit for the Future Internet at the European Commission’s DG CONNECT, argued that Europe’s dependencies across the digital stack are the result of years of choosing to buy technologies rather than build them domestically. According to Benini, digital sovereignty should not mean isolation or digital nationalism, but ensuring that citizens, businesses, and governments retain meaningful choice and control over digital technologies, data, and infrastructure.

She stressed that Europe remains committed to an open, global, secure, and interoperable internet while seeking to manage strategic dependencies through partnerships with trusted countries and stronger European technological capacity.

Benini also pointed to upcoming EU initiatives, including a Sovereign Tech Package covering semiconductors, cloud and AI infrastructure, and open-source technologies. She described Europe’s regulatory framework, including the GDPR, DSA, DMA, and AI Act, as an important long-term foundation, while acknowledging that regulation alone cannot deliver sovereignty.

Several participants echoed that concern, arguing that Europe has become highly effective at regulating digital systems while still depending heavily on technologies built elsewhere.

João Gomes from YouthDIG said younger Europeans increasingly want opportunities not only to regulate technology, but also to build competitive European alternatives. He warned that Europe risks becoming ‘the world’s most sophisticated regulator’ without developing sufficient industrial and technological capacity of its own.

Open source, interoperability, and trusted infrastructure emerged repeatedly as key pillars of the European approach. Frank Kruger from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernization argued that maintaining critical open-source infrastructure is essential for Europe’s resilience, security, and innovation capacity.

Peter Janssen, general manager of EURid, linked digital sovereignty to practical user control over online identities and infrastructure. Using the .eu domain as an example, he said European users should be able to retain control over their digital presence, providers, and data through open standards and interoperable systems.

At the same time, several speakers warned against allowing digital sovereignty to become a justification for internet fragmentation or excessive state control. Elonnai Hickok, Managing Director at Global Network Initiative, stressed that Europe should continue supporting open standards, interoperability, portability, and multistakeholder governance while avoiding surveillance-heavy or protectionist approaches.

The terminology itself also generated debate. Some participants preferred terms such as ‘strategic autonomy’ or ‘digital autonomy’, arguing that ‘sovereignty’ can sound nation-centric or exclusionary. Others defended the term as necessary to describe Europe’s ability to preserve democratic self-determination in a more contested geopolitical environment.

Despite differences over terminology and emphasis, the session ended with broad agreement that Europe needs a long-term strategy combining regulation, industrial policy, open standards, digital skills, infrastructure investment, and support for European alternatives.

Participants also agreed that Europe’s approach should aim for what the session’s final draft messages described as ‘resilient openness and strategic autonomy’ rather than isolation or protectionism.

EuroDIG 2026 took place on 26 and 27 May at the Charlemagne Building of the European Commission in Brussels under the theme ‘European Voices for the Future of the Internet – Celebrating 20 Years of .eu and the Beginning of a New Internet Governance Era’.

Digital Watch Observatory followed EuroDIG 2026 through a dedicated event page, featuring session information and reporting from Brussels.

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