European technological sovereignty and digital infrastructure
The European Parliament adopted by 471 votes to 68, with 71 abstentions, a resolution on European technological sovereignty and digital infrastructure.
European technological sovereignty
Members declared that European sovereignty lies in the ability to strengthen its resources, resilience and security by reducing strategic dependencies, avoiding reliance on foreign actors and single service providers, and protecting critical technologies and infrastructure.
Power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of non-European companies, limiting Europe's ability to innovate, compete, and maintain control over its digital economy, society, and democracy. Members are particularly concerned about excessive reliance on non-European actors in critical areas such as cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, AI, and cybersecurity.
Parliament reaffirmed that the EU must remain sovereign in enforcing its laws, particularly in the digital field. It strongly condemned the travel bans imposed by the United States on civil society leaders, as well as the travel ban imposed by the United States on former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who played a key role in establishing the Union's digital rules. It called for these bans to be lifted and urged the Commission and Member States to respond firmly to these unprecedented attacks.
Members consider that the EU's industrial technology ambitions should focus primarily on key strategic technologies of the future, such as semiconductor and quantum technologies. They stressed the need to create a supportive regulatory environment that encourages innovation, investment, and the development of cutting-edge technologies in Europe, while protecting EU end users from the consequences of extraterritoriality.
Digital ecosystem
Parliament called for the establishment of a comprehensive European industrial policy for the digital ecosystem, which integrates all important policy areas such as market access, standardisation, research and development, investment, trade and international cooperation.
The EU should take the initiative in creating a solid foundation for public digital infrastructure by building layers of digital technologies comprised of semiconductors, connectivity solutions, cloud infrastructure, software, data, and AI. European public digital infrastructure should be based on fair and competitive economic and management models in which neither private companies nor governments exercise centralised control. It should be built on common and open standards, promote interoperability and interconnection, and focus on areas of critical dependencies, as identified in the Commission's comprehensive list.
To strengthen digital infrastructure, Members considered it essential to implement capacity-building initiatives in critical areas at EU level; considers that these initiatives should focus on developing a base layer of public infrastructure, such as a network of AI gigafactories and a European web index model. Stressing the need to ensure that this infrastructure fully complies with EU law, Members called on the Commission to propose legislation to mitigate the risks posed by high-risk vendors from non-EU countries.
Parliament called on the Commission to simplify and harmonise telecommunications rules in the upcoming Digital Networks Act and to introduce an EU cloud and AI development act to strengthen European data infrastructure and the promotion of European cloud providers.
Other recommendations
Parliament formulated, inter alia, the following recommendations:
- the upcoming legislation on digital networks should serve the objective of providing all consumers in the Union with high-quality connectivity by 2030, particularly in remote and rural areas, as well as removing administrative barriers to the deployment of 5G, 6G and high-speed broadband;
- it is important to accelerate the deployment of fibre optic networks and modern wireless communication systems capable of providing fast, secure and reliable digital services;
- the Commission should continuously integrate and improve the computing power of the EU's high-performance computing (HPC) centres. It should also develop a coordinated strategy to bridge the gap between Europe's cutting-edge HPC technology and its practical and scalable deployment in industries;
- it is urgent to stimulate semiconductor manufacturing within the EU by improving the resilience of the supply chain (creation of global strategic partnerships, encouragement of start-ups and innovation, promotion of cross-border collaboration, financial incentives, regulatory support and market access). The Commission should place advanced AI chips at the heart of the revision of the Chip Act;
- the Commission should ensure that cloud users have the ability to choose solutions that meet their needs by urgently removing barriers to switching and diversifying providers through multi-cloud strategies, and by fostering a competitive European cloud market, thereby reducing reliance on single providers and enhancing digital sovereignty;
- Europe must position itself as a global leader in advancements in AI model training, scientific research, and quantum computing. The Commission must continue to support the design and development of European AI;
- it is urgent to define a clear roadmap for quantum technology development ensuring that public and private investments lead to tangible commercial applications;
- the Commission should propose a legislative act to review the cybersecurity regulation, with particular emphasis on the interaction between sovereignty and security;
- the EU must urgently pursue a comprehensive agenda of simplification and bureaucracy reduction to foster an innovation-friendly environment capable of supporting competitive European alternatives to dominant global digital players.
Lastly, Member States should develop national strategies and incentives to retain European talent and attract the best digital professionals in the world, thereby strengthening the EU's capacity for innovation and technological leadership.