Dear Readers,
Next week Berlin becomes the centre of Europe’s quest for technological resilience and competitiveness, as heads of government, European Commissioners, business leaders, and civil society meet for the European Digital Sovereignty Summit. The gathering, co-hosted by Germany and France, will test Europe’s ability to shape its technological destiny at a time when control over data, infrastructure, and innovation defines geopolitical power. In my latest Handelsblatt column, I discuss what can and should be expected from the summit.
The summit marks an important milestone for Europe’s digital future – and also for our work. On its sidelines, our team led by Martin Hullin will launch the European Network for Technological Resilience and Sovereignty (ETRS), together with the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, the AI and Society Institute in Paris, and the Polish Economic Institute in Warsaw. The network unites researchers, policymakers, and industry representatives to work towards strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity in key technologies such as AI, cloud infrastructure, and semiconductors for a resilient, values-driven digital Europe. We look forward to sharing more on this in the weeks ahead.
In anticipation of the summit, we also convened a Franco-German high-level exchange on European technological sovereignty. The discussion stressed the need for joint solutions and concrete implementation, highlighting the importance of Franco-German cooperation embedded in a broader European approach. We hope that the ideas and insights from this exchange will help inform the discussions next week.
Turning Europe’s digital sovereignty ambitions into action will require both political unity and the financial commitment to back them. This is now being tested in Brussels, where a dispute over the next MFF has been unfolding. The European Parliament is asserting its role, challenging the Commission’s approach and calling for adjustments to the new National and Regional Partnership Plans. On Monday, Commission President von der Leyen presented several ideas on how to adjust the MFF proposal, trying to ease tensions with the EP. In an interview, Lucas Resende Carvalho warns that divisions over the budget risk shrinking Europe’s strategic ambition just when investment in energy, digital, and industrial transformation is most needed.
At the same time, the recent collapse of the Sustainability Omnibus negotiations between the EPP and the S&D reveals another face of parliamentary politics. Rather than flexing its muscles, the EP has shown its internal fragmentation. In their recent opinion piece for FAZ, Claudia-Dominique Geiser and Etienne Höra argue that the failure of the Parliament to reach a majority on the Omnibus exposed not only deep political divisions but also poor preparation and a loss of trust among democratic groups. Efforts to simplify EU rules without solid groundwork and broad consensus, they warn, risk weakening standards and making Europe more vulnerable to external pressure. Parliament is making another attempt this week to adopt the negotiating mandate for this Omnibus bill. We will continue to monitor the progress of this file for you.
Finally, I am delighted to share that we are growing our team to provide even more expertise on these and other challenges the EU faces. We are very happy to welcome Anna Heckhausen. Anna will focus on the EU’s financial architecture and the European economy.
Best wishes,
Daniela Schwarzer
Member of the Executive Board
