EU Digital Sovereignty:Idea And Practice

In recent years,the European integration has faced multiple crises,from the European debt crisis to Brexit,from the refugee wave to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.The process of European integration has encountered multiple obstacles.In addition,the framework of multilateralism on which the EU exerts its influence is also under attack.Under the combined impact of rising geopolitical game and the spread of COVID-19,the international order and structure have begun to undergo profound adjustment.Generally speaking,the EU hopes to meet challenges and enhance its governance capacity and international influence by deepening integration.In this context,the EU attaches more importance to strategic autonomy and European sovereignty in recent years.At present,digital economy has become the key to restructure global factor resources,reshape global economic structure and change global competition pattern.In the face of international competition in the digital era,the European Union,which is undergoing digital transformation,pushes the concept of European sovereignty to extend to the field of digital economy and puts forward the new concept of "digital sovereignty",which regards digital sovereignty as the extension of national sovereignty in the digital economy era.The main reasons can be summarized as follows:First,the European Union lags behind in the key technologies driving the digital economy;Second,EU Internet companies are small in scale and weak in competitiveness.Third,the EU is heavily dependent on foreign countries for key technologies related to the digital economy.Fourth,the EU is concerned about the leakage of citizens’ private data and other critical information;Fifth,the EU is starting to see data control as key to geopolitical jockeying.The strategic purpose of EU digital sovereignty can be analyzed from both internal and external aspects.Internally,integrate the markets of all member states into the digital single market,accelerate the digital transformation of the EU as a whole,and promote an early economic recovery of the EU.A set of policy and regulation mechanisms with EU characteristics will be formed externally to gain a start in the field of global digital regulation,obtain the right to speak on standard formulation,protect the key interests of the EU and prevent the EU from being marginalized in the increasingly fierce geopolitical game.This paper mainly adopts text analysis method and case study method as research methods,focuses on examining the concept and practice of EU digital sovereignty from the perspective of EU maintaining its own strategic independence and deepening the process of European integration,and analyzes the concept of digital sovereignty into three dimensions:politics,economy and great power game.This paper analyzes the achievements and challenges of the European Union in the construction of digital sovereignty from the perspectives of key terms,policy changes,regulatory laws and regulations.The political dimension means that the EU deepens its internal integration by putting forward and constructing the concept of digital sovereignty,a supranational sovereignty.At a time when cyberspace is becoming increasingly fragmented and disorderly,the EU and its member states have reached a consensus on the challenges and dilemmas of digital space.It is hoped that through Green New Deal and Digital New Deal,the digital single market can be successfully established and the unified goal of EU interests can be better realized in international competition.By ceding some sovereignty,member states are expanding the scope for EU policy and regulation in the digital space.In addition,the EU’s attention to citizens’ rights runs through the construction and practice of the concept of digital sovereignty.The intervention of digital enterprises’ violation and abuse of personal data and the ethical emphasis on artificial intelligence technology are all based on the respect for citizens’individual rights,which is also the signature feature of the EU’s digital sovereignty policy.The economic dimension is how the exponential sovereignty strategy enhances the core competitiveness of EU digital economy and strengthens the protection of digital market.Compared with China and the US,the EU member states are generally lagging behind in digital transformation,which not only affects the overall performance of the EU in the field of digital economy,but also directly restricts the further innovation of the traditional advantageous industries of the EU.Whether the key digital technology infrastructure of the EU can achieve independence and whether the competitiveness of its own digital enterprises can be effectively improved will directly affect the success or failure of the digital sovereignty strategy.In view of this,Europe has been making continuous efforts to lay out its digital infrastructure construction,key digital technologies and industrial policies in recent years,hoping to achieve the goal of reducing external dependence and promoting the sound development of local digital technologies and digital economy through top-level design and a series of policies and regulations.The dimension of digital rivalry between great powers is mainly to discuss the competition and cooperation between EU and the United States and China in the field of digital economy.The EU digital market is also the main battlefield of international competition.Under the situation that the confrontation between China and the US in the digital field has become the new normal,on the one hand,the EU is under pressure from the US,and the cooperation between the EU and China in the 5G network and chip industry chain has produced many uncertain changes.On the other hand,the EU has spared no effort to crack down on the monopoly behavior of the US Internet giants.Through digital tax,high fines and other means to act as a deterrent,strictly regulate the behavior of American enterprises,and strive for the development of local small and medium-sized technology companies.This paper argues that the European Union currently has big differences in strengthening digital sovereignty and protecting the interests of Internet giants from the United States,which is the main contradiction in the international game level of the European Union.On the other hand,the EU is basically precaution-based in its strategy towards China,but still retains room for cooperation.Member states have taken some restrictive measures against China,but they are not coordinated and their strength varies.Based on the analysis of the game between Europe and America and between Europe and China,this paper looks forward to the future digital economy cooperation between China and Europe,and gives constructive suggestions accordingly.This paper argues that the EU will face internal difficulties in the implementation of digital sovereignty.The complicated internal governance mechanism of the EU will delay the promotion of various laws and regulations,and the balance between supervision and development is not easy to grasp,which will bring uncertainty to the development of the EU’s own digital economy.