The European Commission’s ambition to boost competitiveness and achieve digitally sovereignty is driving the EU’s current policy agenda – but this paper suggests that this agenda risks becoming unbalanced in ways that could undermine Europe’s aspirations.

The Commission plans to massively invest in Europe’s digital economy; to drive closer integration of Europe’s single market; to promote European champions; and to significantly reduce regulatory burdens.

There are many positive features about the Commission’ policy agenda. However, the Commission’s approach risks becoming unbalanced by focusing more on quantity, size, scale, and hype, than on quality and substance. The EU may massively invest, complete the single market, launch European champions and reduce regulatory burdens - and yet fail to make Europe either sovereign or competitive.

This paper explains why and makes recommendations on how Europe’s strategy can be rebalanced. Investing intelligently and strategically may be as important as the amount of investment. Market size and scale matter – but the evidence suggests that market quality and other factors are even more important. Without the appropriate regulatory framework, European champions will not necessarily benefit either Europe’s sovereignty or competitiveness. Finally, this paper proposes that the EU should adopt a digital sovereignty strategy to address real sovereignty risks and to prevent digital sovereignty from becoming a misapplied buzzword.