On November 18, Berlin hosted the first Summit on European Digital Sovereignty. France and Germany used the occasion to unveil a set of new initiatives aimed at strengthening data protection, developing cloud markets, and advancing so-called frontier AI, alongside €12 billion ($13.9 billion) in promised private investment.
But despite its ambitious agenda, the summit still mischaracterized sovereignty as a question of capacity – how much infrastructure Europe can build – rather than control.
Anke Hassel and Frieder Kitsch report that European policymakers must focus on ensuring strategic capabilities and governance power in digital markets, rather than relying solely on industrial policy or infrastructure subsidies.
Read the full report here: European Tech Sovereignty Requires Digital Leverage, Not Self-Sufficiency