Safeguarding European values with digital sovereignty

An analysis of statements and policies

The European Union (EU) has, with increasing frequency, outlined an intention to
strengthen its “digital sovereignty” as a basis for safeguarding European values in the digital age.
Yet, uncertainty remains as to how the term should be defined, undermining efforts to assess the
success of the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda. The task of this paper is to reduce this uncertainty
by i) analysing how digital sovereignty has been discussed by EU institutional actors and placing
this in a wider conceptual framework, ii) mapping specific policy areas and measures that EU
institutional actors cite as important for strengthening digital sovereignty, iii) assessing the
effectiveness of current policy measures at strengthening digital sovereignty, and iv) proposing
policy solutions that go above and beyond current measures and address existing gaps.