Report from Euractiv
In Brief – The European Commission is expected to unveil its long-awaited tech sovereignty package on 3 June after postponing the roll-out three times, underscoring ongoing political and policy tensions surrounding the bloc’s digital strategy. The latest delay came shortly after criticism from the United States, including a warning from the US ambassador to the EU that overly “protectionist” digital regulations could jeopardize broader EU-US trade negotiations. The package is expected to contain several major initiatives aimed at strengthening Europe’s technological independence, including the Cloud and AI Development Act (CAIDA), designed to accelerate data-center expansion in the region, and Chips Act 2, to better attract semiconductor investment and manufacturing capacity to Europe.
Context – The deterioration in US-EU relations during the second Trump administration has intensified a push inside the EU for “digital sovereignty” to reduce dependence on American technology companies. Concerns accelerated after disputes such as the Greenland crisis and growing fears that US foreign policy could eventually force a technological split between Europe and the United States. In response, nearly 100 European firms and trade groups have urged the European Commission to take “radical action” to build greater technological independence, while leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron argued that Europe should not remain dependent on either the US or China for critical digital infrastructure. Initiatives such as the Eurostack project call for concerted efforts to develop alternatives across cloud computing, semiconductors, software, and artificial intelligence. While small European tech firms largely back aggressive EU action, several major European corporations have warned that pushing leading industries to rapidly replace American cloud, software, and AI systems would be expensive, operationally disruptive, and potentially harmful to both corporate competitiveness and broader European economic growth.