Digital Sovereignty for Europe: Power, Technology and the Freedom to Decide

Digital technology has become a question of power. Cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, data and the platforms that shape public opinion are now instruments of geopolitical influence – and for most of them Europe depends on others. This book asks what digital sovereignty really means and how Europe can achieve it without closing itself off from the world. Tomasz Klekowski maps Europe's dependencies across the entire technology stack, Alina Bârgăoanu analyses technological sovereignty as the architecture of influence, and Jochen M. Richter compares the European and American approaches. Their common conclusion is clear: no Member State can achieve digital sovereignty alone. Only by turning twenty-seven national strategies into one shared European effort – pooling capital, talent, demand and political will – can Europe secure its freedom to decide in the digital age.

Dr. Alina Bârgăoanu is Professor and Dean of the College of Communication and Public Relations at SNSPA Bucharest and a member of the Diplomatic Council. She was an Advisory Board member of EDMO (2020–2026) and a member of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Fake News (2018). Her research focuses on influence operations, cognitive warfare and resilience.

Tomasz Klekowski is a digital transformation advisor and technology evangelist, Partner at ThinkTank Leaders Hub and founder of BIZNES.AI. He formerly led Intel's marketing and market development for EMEA and Intel operations in Central and Eastern Europe.

Jochen M. Richter chairs the Diplomatic Council Global Security Forum. After 30 years at the European Commission and the European Parliament, he retired in 2020 as Director of the European Parliament. He teaches in Luxembourg, Düsseldorf and Lviv and is the author of "Last Train West" and "Europe and the Emerging New Global Order".