Europe Is Fighting the Wrong Tech Battle -- Here's What It Should Do Instead

[Celerity]

Europe’s tech future is at risk—from Trump, Big Tech, and its own flawed competitiveness obsession.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/europe-is-fighting-the-wrong-tech-battle-heres-what-it-should-do-instead



As part of his confrontational stance toward Europe, US President Donald Trump could end up weaponizing critical technologies. The European Union must appreciate the true nature of this threat instead of focusing on competing with the US as an economic ally. To achieve true tech sovereignty, the EU should transcend its narrow focus on competitiveness and deregulation and adopt a far more ambitious strategy.

After passing several landmark tech bills in recent years, the EU is now seeking to boost innovation and enhance competitiveness. Building on former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s influential 2024 report, the European Commission recently published the Competitiveness Compass – its road map for implementing Draghi’s recommendations.

Europe’s growing anxiety about competitiveness is fueled by its inability to challenge US-based tech giants where it counts: in the market. As the Draghi report points out, the productivity gap between the United States and the EU largely reflects the relative weakness of Europe’s tech sector. Recent remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen suggest that policymakers have taken Draghi’s message to heart, making competitiveness the central focus of EU tech policy.

But this singular focus is both insufficient and potentially counterproductive at a time of technological and geopolitical upheaval. While pursuing competitiveness could reduce Big Tech’s influence over Europe’s economy and democratic institutions, it could just as easily entrench it. European leaders’ current fixation on deregulation – turbocharged by the Draghi report – leaves EU policymaking increasingly vulnerable to lobbying by powerful corporate interests and risks legitimizing policies that are incompatible with fundamental European values.

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