{"id":19141,"date":"2026-06-04T19:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/19141\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:58:20","slug":"new-mcc-brussels-report-europe-needs-chokepoints-not-the-delusion-of-digital-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/19141\/","title":{"rendered":"New MCC Brussels Report: Europe Needs Chokepoints, Not the Delusion of Digital Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following is a press release kindly provided to us by <a href=\"https:\/\/mcc.hu\/en\/mcc-brussels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">MCC Brussels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">On the day the European Commission launches the \u2018European Technological Sovereignty Package\u2019, a new MCC Brussels report argues that the EU\u2019s pursuit of \u2018digital sovereignty\u2019 is a fundamental category mistake that is systematically destroying Europe\u2019s technological potential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ursula von der Leyen, marking the release of the tech sovereignty package, asserts that the EU \u2018cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure.\u2019 The MCC Brussels report demonstrates how this fundamentally misunderstands the reality of digital markets, innovation, and economic power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The task for Europe is not to achieve the Brussels fever dream of digital autarky, but to unshackle European companies from the regulatory suffocation of Brussels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report titled The Grand Delusion: The European Union and Digital Sovereignty by technology analyst and Visiting Research Fellow Dr Norman Lewis challenges one of the European Union\u2019s most influential policy concepts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report argues that \u2018digital sovereignty\u2019 is not merely unattainable but fundamentally misunderstands how power operates in the modern digital economy. Rather than attempting to replicate American technology giants or build a fully self-sufficient digital ecosystem, Europe should focus on cultivating globally indispensable capabilities that others cannot do without.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018The modern digital economy is not a territory to be enclosed,\u2019 said Dr Lewis. \u2018It is a global network of interdependent technologies, supply chains, platforms, and infrastructure. No country\u2014not even the United States or China\u2014is digitally sovereign. Europe\u2019s future lies not in sovereignty, but in agency, leverage, and indispensability\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report examines the EU\u2019s growing emphasis on digital sovereignty through industrial strategies, cloud initiatives, semiconductor programmes, AI regulation, and data governance frameworks. It argues that many of these efforts have produced ambitious announcements but few globally competitive technological successes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing on detailed case studies, Lewis contrasts France\u2019s Minitel system\u2014perhaps the closest historical example of genuine digital sovereignty\u2014with the success of Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minitel demonstrated that digital systems can be controlled within national borders, but at the cost of openness, innovation and adaptability. ASML, by contrast, became one of the most strategically important technology companies in the world not through protection or state direction, but by occupying an indispensable position within a global value chain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018ASML shows what real technological power looks like,\u2019 Lewis argues. \u2018Its influence comes not from controlling a territory, but from occupying a chokepoint through which the entire global semiconductor industry must pass.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report contends that Europe\u2019s most successful technological achievements\u2014including ASML, IMEC, Airbus, SAP and Novo Nordisk\u2014emerged where institutions created favourable conditions and then stepped back, rather than attempting to designate champions or engineer outcomes from above.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among its key conclusions, the report argues that:<\/p>\n<p>No country\u2014not even the United States or China\u2014possesses genuine digital sovereignty across the technology stack.<\/p>\n<p>Europe\u2019s regulatory power should not be confused with technological capability.<\/p>\n<p>The EU\u2019s digital sovereignty agenda has too often prioritized regulation and targets over innovation and competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Europe should focus on building strategic chokepoints in areas such as photonics, advanced semiconductors, quantum technologies, industrial software, and precision biotechnology.<\/p>\n<p>Policymakers should create conditions for long-term innovation rather than pursuing politically attractive but ultimately unsuccessful sovereignty projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The publication comes amid renewed debate in Brussels over Europe\u2019s technological future and its relationship with American and Chinese technology firms. As policymakers consider new initiatives aimed at reducing foreign dependence, The Grand Delusion offers a fundamental challenge to the assumptions underpinning current EU strategy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018Europe\u2019s obstacle is not Silicon Valley or Shenzhen,\u2019 Lewis concludes. \u2018It is the institutionalised technocratic mindset that confuses announcements with achievement and regulation with capability. Europe needs chokepoints, not the delusion of digital sovereignty.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Related articles:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following is a press release kindly provided to us by MCC Brussels. On the day the European&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,1151,89,69,4878,2729,11371,1593,86],"class_list":["post-19141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-digital-sovereignty","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-mcc-brussels","tag-press-release","tag-report","tag-tech","tag-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116693611685672892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}