In a nutshell: The EU is accelerating its digital sovereignty strategy in response to geopolitical tensions, but faces significant obstacles in implementation.
The EU has been pursuing digital sovereignty since 2019, but is now intensifying this through an ambitious package of measures. For CDOs, this means concrete regulatory and technological requirements affecting independence from non-European infrastructure.
Digital sovereignty has been a strategic objective of the European Union since 2019. It encompasses the technological and infrastructural independence of European states and institutions from non-European, particularly American and Chinese platforms and technology providers. This includes data processing, cloud infrastructure, chip production and critical software ecosystems.
Geopolitical shifts — notably the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increasing technological rivalries — have significantly increased pressure for faster implementation. In early June 2024, the EU responded with a comprehensive package of measures providing for investments in European technology infrastructure, regulation and standardization.
For Chief Data Officers and those responsible for data governance, this is relevant because sovereignty objectives have a direct impact on storage locations, data flows and system architectures. The requirement to keep critical data in European data centres and to prioritize European services restricts technical design flexibility and creates new compliance dimensions beyond traditional data protection requirements.
However, practical implementation is hampered by contradictions: European technology alternatives are often immature, expensive or technologically uncompetitive. At the same time, global supply chains and software ecosystems have been reliant on non-European systems for decades. A withdrawal would require massive investments, coordinated standards and decades of development.
Source: itwelt.at · Published 29 July 2026
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