European Sovereignty Monitor
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Opinion

Published positions from the voices the Monitor follows and from named public figures. Each one records that someone argued something, not that it is true, and none moves the sovereignty index until an institution acts.

Who the voices are, who they speak for, and how they are chosen

CEPA fellow says Europe is reactive as it sets AI rules of engagement CEPA's Elly Rostoum writes that Germany's BSI is in active dialogue with Anthropic over security risks and the Commission is weighing whether its Mythos model is high risk under the AI Act, arguing Europe must compete with China without abandoning its values. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted ECIPE says Cybersecurity Act 2 mostly legalises existing 5G vendor bans ECIPE's Hosuk Lee-Makiyama argues Cybersecurity Act 2 mostly formalises 5G Toolbox decisions states already made, noting 70 per cent of installed EU 5G equipment is from trusted vendors and just seven or eight parent firms control networks still exposed to Chinese kit. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA op-ed proposes new European Security Council outside the EU CEPA's Niccolo Comini proposes a European Security Council outside the EU, with two thirds supermajority voting and no permanent seats, so Kremlin-aligned states cannot block action and Europe can decide without depending on Washington. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CCIA Europe calls Commission's first DMA evaluation an unbalanced picture CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender says the Commission's first DMA evaluation understates degraded user experience and higher SME costs, calling enforcement a procedural black box while backing the Commission's evidence based approach to interoperability. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted ArianeGroup chief Bruneau says firm is studying missile production in Germany ArianeGroup chief executive Christophe Bruneau told Les Echos and Handelsblatt the company is studying conventional ballistic missile production in Germany, saying he still believes in French German cooperation "more than ever" despite fighter and tank programme setbacks. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read CEPA fellow Nico Lange urges EU quota for sovereign defence technology CEPA senior fellow and IRIS director Nico Lange argues Europe must earmark at least 10 percent of defence procurement for disruptive, sovereign technologies, rising to 30 percent by 2030, saying the US is no longer Europe's automatic security backbone. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CCIA Europe calls for a DMA reality check ahead of gatekeeper law review CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender and Maria Teresa Stecher call DMA compliance a guessing game, citing compressed timelines and no oral hearings, and warn procedural gaps could see Commission decisions annulled by the Court of Justice. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted ECIPE policy brief urges a more proportional and predictable DMA ECIPE's Andrea Dugo, Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya publish a policy brief saying DMA enforcement has drifted from its competition goals, recommending clearer objectives, stronger evidence standards and closer alignment with GDPR and cybersecurity rules. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE paper says Europe's space policy still favours legacy champions ECIPE authors Andrea Dugo and Dyuti Pandya write Europe made 8 orbital launches in 2025 against the US's 181, its space patent share fell from 11 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2023, and EU space startups average USD 48 million funding against USD 317 million in the US. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted SWP Berlin paper says EU pursues open strategic autonomy in tech policy SWP Berlin's edited research paper on the "geoeconomic Zeitenwende" says the EU's pursuit of "open strategic autonomy" in digital and technology policy should reduce dependence through market completion, regulation and allied partnerships, not isolationist decoupling. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted EDRi says EU Digital Omnibus risks weakening GDPR and AI Act safeguards EDRi's Itxaso Dominguez de Olazabal and Chiara Casati write that the EU's Digital Omnibus, framed as simplification, would weaken GDPR, ePrivacy and AI Act safeguards by shifting to corporate self-assessment. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope rejects US Section 301 overcapacity claims against EU tech industry DigitalEurope, representing 56,000 companies, told the US Section 301 overcapacity probe there is no evidence of EU economywide overcapacity, warning broad tariffs would damage transatlantic semiconductor, cloud and AI cooperation. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE warns DMA interoperability rules clash with GDPR and cybersecurity law ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Andrea Dugo argue DMA interoperability mandates override GDPR data protection defaults and widen gatekeeper systems' attack surface, warning the EU's shift to prescriptive digital rules is creating unmanageable regulatory conflicts. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA asks who will control Europe's AI driven shopping carts CEPA's Padraig Nolan warns that US built AI models from OpenAI, Google and Meta will shape agentic commerce even where payments run on European instant payment and open banking rails, urging Europe to set agent authorisation rules rather than mandates. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA analyst says quantum era is already here, not a future promise Beacon Global Strategies' Alicia Chavy writes in CEPA that quantum is already operational, not future, citing Europe's EuroQCI network and national crypto agility duties ahead of a 2035 post-quantum migration deadline. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted ECIPE says DMA enforcement is redesigning markets, not restoring competition ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya say DMA enforcement now reshapes product design rather than remedying anticompetitive conduct, pointing to a Google Maps case where compliance changes raised map search queries by over 20 per cent, benefiting Google itself. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA fellows say EU Space Act cannot close Europe's launch capability gap CEPA fellows Federico Borsari and Maria-Doriana Gheorghe argue the EU Space Act, replacing 13 national laws, chiefly binds Starlink while exempting Galileo and IRIS2, yet leaves Europe far behind Starlink's fleet of over 7,000 satellites. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CISPE and industry peers warn Italy's cloud levy risks fragmenting EU market CISPE, EuroISPA and the European DIGITAL SME Alliance jointly warned that Italy's new copyright levy on cloud storage, charged per gigabyte and per user, undermines EU digitalisation and competitiveness goals and could fragment the Single Market if copied elsewhere. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA says EU Inc falls short of Europe's Delaware moment for startups CEPA's Anda Bologa argues the Commission's EU Inc proposal, offering fast, low cost registration for standardised startups, leaves cross border hiring, tax and bankruptcy law fragmented across 27 states, calling it incremental, not a unifying regime. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Axe says Iran war exposes Europe's costly, porous air defences CEPA's David Axe says Europe's reliance on USD 100 million Eurofighter Typhoon sorties and USD 1 million missiles against USD 50,000 Shahed style drones is unsustainable, urging Ukraine style layered, low cost interceptor defences. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted EuroStack paper urges Europe to organise demand, not just fund supply EuroStack Initiative argues EU industrial policy over relies on supply side subsidy and must organise demand pull, coordinated public and corporate buying of European digital infrastructure, to build a sovereign stack. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted CEPA's Cytera says Ireland and Vietnam cut chip supply chain reliance on China CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues that Ireland's chip design strength and Vietnam's packaging role make transatlantic semiconductor supply chains cheaper, safer and less dependent on China, even as Vietnam targets 50,000 design engineers by 2030. Compute and infrastructure ReportedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bologa says Chinese cloud and telecom ties bind the Western Balkans CEPA's Anda Bologa writes that Chinese loans, telecoms, surveillance and cloud infrastructure deals across the Western Balkans, including a Montenegro university's tie to a sanctioned Jinan supercomputing centre, lock in vendors and complicate EU accession. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedAbroadAI-drafted CCIA report says EU Space Act could cost Europe up to EUR 52 billion a year CCIA Research Center, with LAMA Economic Research, says the draft EU Space Act could raise LEO satellite manufacturing costs by 10 to 46 percent and cut EU GDP by up to EUR 52 billion a year through 2030. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space ReportedAI-drafted DigitalEurope calls for narrower Critical Raw Materials Act obligations DigitalEurope argued the Commission's proposed Critical Raw Materials Act amendments are disproportionate, urging a 0.2 kilogram threshold on supply chain mapping, flexible mitigation timelines and no new labelling mandates for industry. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Hidalgo Martinez: US pressure is making Europe less compliant, not more CEPA's Natalia Hidalgo Martinez argues US pressure for higher defence spending is making Europe more autonomous, citing Germany's rise to the world's fourth largest military budget at USD 107 billion and Denmark's pick of SAMP/T over Patriot. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bukowski examines splits over EU's Made in Europe manufacturing rule CEPA's Maciej Bukowski examines the Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act and its 20 percent manufacturing GDP target for 2035, noting Nordic and German pushback for "Made with Europe" wording instead. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CCIA says UK keeps world's worst AI copyright regime by shelving reform Responding to the UK's decision to shelve AI copyright reform, CCIA's Matthew Sinclair said Britain keeps "the worst copyright regime for AI training of any major economy" against Japan, the EU and the United States, and urged a fresh compromise. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CCIA-backed study says DMA drained European startup funding, not a Kill Zone A CCIA Research Center study of 2,276 European venture-backed firms found no rise in EU IPOs since the Digital Markets Act and a 37 percent fall in venture funding from 2022 to 2024, leading chief economist Trevor Wagener to call the "Kill Zone" rationale a myth. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted CCIA Europe urges swift deal after Parliament sets AI Omnibus position After Parliament's IMCO and LIBE committees adopted their AI Omnibus negotiating mandate, CCIA Europe urged trilogue negotiators to set a 12 month grace period for generative AI marking and labelling to avoid legal uncertainty for firms. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted EuroStack urges German leaders to resist hyperscaler alliance, build sovereign stack EuroStack's open letter told German leadership that a new alliance between domestic industry and hyperscalers must not undermine Buy European efforts, urging sovereign tech infrastructure built through industrial leadership rather than AI alone. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CISPE-led cloud CEOs urge EU to block sovereignty washing in Cloud AI Act CEOs of 25 European cloud providers, led by CISPE, wrote to Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen urging that the Cloud and AI Development Act require EU control of data and infrastructure and a Buy European procurement principle, warning against sovereignty washing. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi says Council draft strips worst GDPR and ePrivacy cuts, risks remain EDRi assessed the Council's first Digital Omnibus compromise and found damaging changes to the GDPR's personal data definition, scientific research rules and Article 22 dropped, though AI development and terminal equipment provisions remain unresolved. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CEPA chief Polyakova proposes a 'Pax Silica' coalition to meet China's tech push CEPA chief executive Alina Polyakova writes that neither Washington nor Europe can outcompete China's tech drive alone, citing China's lead in 57 of 64 critical technology categories, and proposes a Pax Silica coalition to secure the silicon supply chain. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Berlin urges the West to copy Ukraine's private sector air defence model CEPA's Derek Berlin urges the West to copy Ukraine's programme letting private firms finance and deploy air defences at ports and power stations, citing European airport shutdowns from drone sightings as proof of fragile infrastructure. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted ECIPE says Europe's competitiveness crisis is a tech investment problem ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Oscar Guinea argue Europe's competitiveness gap is a technology performance problem, citing computer programming at 6.2% of EU business R&D against 18.6% in the US, and urge deregulation over subsidies. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Majcin questions how far France's nuclear umbrella can shield Europe CEPA's Juraj Majcin says President Macron's move to extend France's roughly 290 warhead deterrent to Germany, Poland, Denmark and Sweden marks a break from Gaullist doctrine, though its reach against Russia's larger arsenal is limited. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope urges WTO to enshrine e-commerce rules, expand IT pact at MC14 DigitalEurope urged WTO members at MC14 to fold the JSI e-commerce text into WTO law and widen the Information Technology Agreement, citing a possible EUR 2 trillion gain and two million jobs for Europe from freer data flows. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope sets conditions for digital euro's place in EU payments DigitalEurope urged the ECB and EU institutions to design the digital euro as a complement to private payment rails, prioritising offline use, holding limits and fair distributor compensation rather than displacing existing systems. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Monette: France's debt and gridlock undercut its defence spending pledge CEPA's Nicole Monette says France's pledge to raise defence spending to EUR 64 billion within 18 months and add EUR 36 billion by 2030 is undercut by debt at 113 percent of GDP and a hung parliament after Bayrou's resignation. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Fennell: Royal Navy's slow Cyprus response risks national embarrassment James Fennell, CEPA fellow and former FCDO stabilisation director, writes that HMS Dragon could not sail from Cyprus until 10 March after a 2 March drone attack, behind an 11 ship French deployment, and argues UK defence spending of 2.3 percent of GDP is inadequate. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope urges EUR 20 billion ecosystem budget for Chips Act 2.0 DigitalEurope urged Brussels to redesign Chips Act 2.0 around ecosystem competitiveness rather than fab subsidies, proposing a EUR 20 billion centralised semiconductor budget and dropping the narrow first of a kind fab criterion. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE calls EU Industrial Accelerator Act bureaucratic industrial policy ECIPE's Matthias Bauer calls the Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act "industrial policy by paperwork", arguing its supply chain documentation rules burden firms without lifting the EU's 2035 manufacturing GDP target. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CCIA Europe warns Parliament's AI copyright report will squeeze startups Responding to Parliament's copyright and generative AI resolution, CCIA Europe's Boniface de Champris said the non-binding report risks a "compliance tax" that could price European AI startups out of the market and should not replace existing rules. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CEPA's Cytera says UK chip design incubators could grow the next ARM CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues that Swansea's semiconductor doctoral centre and incubators ChipStart and SiliconCatalyst.UK can grow a new ARM, keeping chip design at the frontier of the democratic world and out of China's hands. Compute and infrastructure ReportedAbroadAI-drafted Schwarz Digits co-chair says Lidl's cloud arm aims to be Europe's hyperscaler Schwarz Digits co-chairman Christian Müller said in an interview the Lidl owner's cloud arm wants to become a "hyperscaler", a European alternative to AWS and Azure, as it builds its EUR 11 billion Lübbenau AI data campus. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read EU defence commissioner Kubilius urges Poland to back EUR 43.7 billion SAFE loans Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters in Warsaw that Poland rejecting its EUR 43.7 billion share of the EU's EUR 150 billion SAFE loans would cost Polish jobs, as President Nawrocki resisted the scheme. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read ECIPE says EU copyright rules choke data access for European AI systems ECIPE's Oscar Guinea argues that EU copyright restrictions on data access for AI training undermine Europe's capacity to both develop and deploy AI, risking a shift from producer to consumer of the technology. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Decety says FCAS collapse shows Europe needs centralised procurement CEPA's Nathan Decety says FCAS's collapse shows national government-to-contractor deals give industrial champions too much leverage, and urges a centralised European procurement authority modelled on the UK-Italy-Japan GCAP programme. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bassoli: FCAS fiasco proves European defence choices stay national CEPA's Anna Matilde Bassoli argues FCAS's collapse, driven by a Dassault-Airbus row over an 80 percent workshare split and Franco-German rifts under Chancellor Merz, shows defence decisions remain national, not European. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bologa urges Europe to deepen digital partnerships beyond talk shops CEPA's Anda Bologa writes that with US firms holding 70 to 80 percent of Europe's cloud market and designing its cutting edge chips, Europe should upgrade its digital partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Canada beyond talk shops. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedAbroadAI-drafted CCIA Europe urges Irish EU presidency to reject preference for EU vendors CCIA Europe published 12 recommendations for Ireland's EU Council presidency, urging it to finish the regulatory Omnibuses, reject discriminatory EU-preference procurement rules, and block network usage fees on content providers. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CEPA fellow Golubeva urges a coordinated EU cyber defence layer against Russia CEPA's Marija Golubeva argues the EU's 27 states should build a coordinated cyber defence "switchboard", with better prepared members like France and Poland aiding others, replacing reliance on US offensive cyber support. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Fedasiuk: Europe should pursue selective sovereignty in AI compute CEPA's Ryan Fedasiuk argues Europe should pursue "selective sovereignty" in AI infrastructure, leaning on its strength in energy and cable systems from Siemens, ABB and Prysmian rather than building a full EuroStack. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope report urges EU market for scale to close EUR 1.2 trillion gap DigitalEurope argues Europe's tech gap is a commercialisation problem, citing an annual EUR 1.2 trillion investment shortfall, and urges EU-level procurement, harmonised tax incentives and demand creation over 27 national approaches. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi: US visa bans and reports pressure Dutch enforcement of the DSA EDRi member Bits of Freedom, with Justice for Prosperity, cites a US House Judiciary report of 3 February 2026 and late December 2025 US visa bans on five Europeans tied to DSA enforcement, calling it foreign interference in EU digital sovereignty. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE's Bauer: CJEU copyright case is a binary choice for European AI ECIPE's Matthias Bauer argues a pending CJEU ruling on AI training and copyright is a binary choice that will decide whether Europe stays a location for frontier AI development or becomes a consumer of AI built elsewhere. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope: EU Grids Package underfunds digitalisation for data centres DigitalEurope welcomes the Commission's European Grids Package for backing grid enhancing technologies, but says its EUR 1.2 trillion investment estimate to 2040 still leaves distribution level digitalisation, which underpins data centre capacity, underfunded. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Landsbergis: Europe must forge its own strategy, not await US Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote in CEPA that Europe must set its own strategic course rather than wait on Washington, citing its exclusion from Ukraine talks and urging Europe to press its own transatlantic agenda. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Cytera: Europe should target next-generation chips, not legacy fabs CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues Europe should target chip niches like silicon carbide and design rather than legacy fabrication, citing the EU Chips Act's over EUR 43 billion mobilised and EUR 2.2 billion for STMicroelectronics's Sicily plant. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope's Bonefeld-Dahl: AI Act delay must not replace real reform DigitalEurope director general Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl warns lawmakers not to let the AI Act's urgent delay substitute for fixing unresolved flaws in the omnibus, citing incomplete standards, overlapping conformity rules and heavy Data Act and Cyber Resilience Act burdens. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope urges splitting AI omnibus into delay and reform tracks DigitalEurope's Julien Chasserieau and Bianca Manelli propose splitting the AI omnibus into a fast-tracked delay and a separate reform, urging sectoral integration of AI rules, legacy clauses, GDPR-aligned data governance and dropping duplicate CE marking for software. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Starmer tells Munich conference Europe must spend, deliver and coordinate more UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference Europe must "spend more, deliver more, and coordinate more" on hard power, citing GBP 500 million in fresh UK air defence support for Ukraine and a pending warship deal with Norway. Defence and space VerifiedEditor-read Macron tells EU leaders joint borrowing is the only way to fund sovereignty push Ahead of the EU leaders' retreat at Alden Biesen, President Macron said the EU is under-indebted next to the US and China and called for common eurobond borrowing to fund roughly EUR 1,200 billion a year in green, digital, defence and security investment. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedEditor-read SWP Berlin's Cyber Activity Balance 2025 finds no joint EU attribution in 2025 SWP Berlin's Bendiek, Hemmelskamp and Rottinger report that EU directed cyberattacks fell in number through 2025 yet struck more organisations, and that member states made not a single joint attribution, exposing a coordination gap. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted ECIPE paper: cloud resilience needs exit rights and portability, not isolation ECIPE's Matthias Bauer and Dyuti Pandya argue cloud resilience rests on preserving exit, portability and multi cloud choice across the lifecycle, and that portable licensing beats localisation mandates as EU policy. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Murphy: Europe pursues autonomy without severing US tech ties CEPA's Ronan Murphy writes that hardening European opinion on the US, friction over the DSA and DMA, and diversification toward India and Mercosur show Europe seeking reduced dependence on US tech without a full break, ahead of the Munich Security Conference. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope: 75 European CEOs urge urgent EU tech investment and procurement Ahead of the EU leaders' retreat, DigitalEurope publishes a call endorsed by over 75 European CEOs for a stronger EU mandate on investment, joint procurement and market integration, and completion of the Capital Markets Union. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE's Pandya: Europe conflates tech sovereignty with self-sufficiency ECIPE's Dyuti Pandya argues EU policymakers conflate technological sovereignty with self-sufficiency, warning that localisation mandates such as the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act echo failed schemes like France's Plan Calcul rather than building real capability. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted SWP Berlin paper says EU lacks delivery capacity on African raw materials SWP Berlin's Meike Schulze argues the EU's 15 critical raw material partnerships and Global Gateway lack delivery capacity against China and Gulf rivals, urging joint project pipelines, dedicated MFF funding and EIB offtake deals worth EUR 2 billion a year. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE urges EU to model DMA review on Japan's narrower platform law ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon, Andrea Dugo and Dyuti Pandya argue the Commission's ongoing Digital Markets Act review should borrow Japan's narrower, effects-based Mobile Software Competition Act rather than keep the EU's broad, categorical rulebook. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted European DIGITAL SME Alliance: Cybersecurity Act revision needs sovereignty ambition European DIGITAL SME Alliance says the Cybersecurity Act revision helps SMEs via EU wide certification aligned with NIS2 and the CRA, but argues certification stays narrowly technical and should add sovereignty and dependency criteria. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE's Dugo maps EU's EUR 740 billion cumulative R&D gap against the US ECIPE's Andrea Dugo finds the EU's cumulative corporate R&D shortfall against the US reached around EUR 740 billion by 2024, EUR 114 billion in that year alone, and argues Europe lacks mechanisms to scale innovative firms into leaders. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi: Commission's Digital Networks Act guts EU net neutrality rules EDRi member epicenter.works argues the Commission's Digital Networks Act, proposed 21 January 2026, would strip net neutrality legal safeguards, let providers charge for fast lanes and fold independent regulator BEREC into a Commission-controlled office. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Riedenstein: joint government pressure beats solo tech enforcement CEPA's Clara Riedenstein argues coordinated pressure from the EU, UK, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia and California forced Grok to restrict its image generation faster than isolated DSA or antitrust enforcement has managed against other platforms. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Nolan urges EU to scale Pay by Bank against Visa and Mastercard CEPA's Padraig Nolan argues Europe should build on existing Pay by Bank infrastructure, linking over 400 million accounts, rather than build new rails, noting Visa and Mastercard processed roughly 61 per cent of euro area card transactions in 2022. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted CEPA authors urge Europe to stand up its own military operations centre CEPA fellows G. Alexander Crowther and Jahara Matisek argued Europe should build a Multidomain Operations Center in Ukraine, starting with an Airpower Allied Command, to gain operational autonomy from NATO's consensus-based structure and a shifting US focus. Defence and space VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted ECIPE paper argues Europe should copy Taiwan's chip ecosystem model, not subsidies ECIPE's Andrea Dugo and Dyuti Pandya argue Europe should copy Taiwan's ecosystem building rather than subsidies alone, urging clustered R&D, systemic talent policy and state enabled, not state led, semiconductor industrial strategy to build sovereign capability. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted SWP's Eric Ballbach argues Germany should deepen defence industrial ties with South Korea SWP's Eric Ballbach urges Germany to deepen defence industrial ties with South Korea, its second largest arms supplier after the US, citing Hanwha Aerospace's planned ammunition and missile plants in eastern Germany and calling for NATO equivalent export status. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Virkkunen tells Euronews all tech firms, including US ones, must follow EU digital rules Tech sovereignty commissioner Henna Virkkunen told Euronews that American, Asian and European firms alike "have to follow the rules" in the EU, as Brussels pursued its Digital Services Act probe into X's Grok chatbot. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi calls for swift EU action as Commission probes X's Grok chatbot EDRi welcomed the European Commission's DSA investigation into X's Grok chatbot over non-consensual sexualised images, urging a swift probe, a dissuasive fine, and for EU institutions to reduce their presence on X in favour of alternative platforms. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CCIA Europe publishes position paper on the EU's AI Omnibus CCIA Europe's position paper on the AI Omnibus called for flexibility in choosing conformity assessment bodies and said the planned August 2026 AI generated content marking deadline is too narrow for implementation challenges. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted DigitalEurope calls for EU unity and urgent sovereignty investment DigitalEurope, quoting Director-General Cecilia Bonefeld Dahl, urges the EU and member states to stay united, invest urgently in technological sovereignty and simplify digital regulation, pointing to the 70 CEOs who signed its European AI and critical tech declaration. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Virkkunen tells Davos Europe's tech dependence can be weaponised At Davos, Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said Europe's low start-up to scale-up rate, 8 percent against 60 percent in the US, feeds dependence on foreign technology, and argued sovereignty needs one market, not 27 rulebooks. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read CEPA analysis: Europe's new cyber rules target China and the US CEPA's Ieva Ilves argued the EU's Cybersecurity Act revision, aimed at cutting reliance on Chinese and American vendors, will likely fail on both counts given member state resistance to central authority and no funding for European alternatives. Policy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DigitalEurope backs Cybersecurity Act certification reform, warns on timelines DIGITALEUROPE's Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl welcomed the Commission's Cybersecurity Act revision making certification "a more practical tool", but called for voluntary schemes aligned with international standards and harmonised timelines across CRA, NIS2 and GDPR. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CCIA Europe warns against exclusionary amendments to EU Cybersecurity Act CCIA Europe's Mitchell Rutledge welcomed the Commission's anchoring of Cybersecurity Act certification in technical criteria, but warned member states and MEPs may add protectionist "sovereignty" amendments excluding non-EU certifiers. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted CEPA op-ed argues Europe underrates its own tech leverage over the US CEPA analyst Clara Riedenstein argues Europe holds more tech leverage than assumed, citing ASML's lithography monopoly, Merck's chip chemicals, Imec's research and SAP's reach into US government software, and urges reinforcing these strengths via a coming Chips Act 2.0 rather than protectionism. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted SWP's Juliana Suss argues Europe must build autonomous military space capability SWP researcher Juliana Suss argues Europe must build autonomous space capability, citing 40 years of European space spending at 15-20% of US levels and Germany's planned EUR 35 billion five-year military space investment as insufficient alone. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope responds to EU data centre energy reporting scheme review DIGITALEUROPE responded to EUDCEAR's second technical report on the EU data centre energy efficiency rating scheme, backing a KPI based approach but opposing minimum performance standards while baseline data remains insufficient. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA op-ed says Pax Silica chip alliance too vague to counter China CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues the US led Pax Silica chip alliance is structurally weak, noting Taiwan, the Netherlands and Germany, whose EUR 5 billion backed TSMC Dresden fab sits outside full membership, despite holding critical chokepoints. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAbroadAI-drafted DIGITAL SME Alliance opinion: 2026 will make or break Europe's tech sovereignty DIGITAL SME Alliance publishes Antonio Grasso's piece arguing 2026's first 100 days will decide Europe's tech sovereignty, citing three US firms holding 65 percent of the EU cloud market and urging a simplified "28th regime", clearer procurement preference and easier talent visas. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted