Digital sovereignty for growth, rules and cooperation

This paper is part of the joint EPC-KAS project on “Fostering Europe’s strategic autonomy: priorities for action” that runs throughout 2020 and aims to outline a concrete agenda to strengthen Europe’s role in the world and its sovereignty. In an increasingly competitive and volatile international environment, Europe needs a stronger power base to uphold its values and interests, confront challenges, engage with partners, and support rules-based cooperation. To attain these goals, the European Union needs to become a more strategic and autonomous actor on the global stage. Pursuing strategic autonomy is ultimately about empowering Europeans to take and implement decisions to advance their priorities in cooperation with others, where possible, and on their own, if needed. This is essential to reinforce European sovereignty – Europe’s ability to shape its future. Progress towards strategic autonomy requires concerted action across various domains, including Europe’s economic power base, technology and innovation and security and defence. This project encompasses activities targeting each of these areas, with a view to defining priorities for action for Europe in a challenging global context.