Can Europe own its digital destiny? EU unveils tech sovereignty roadmap
From The Debate by FRANCE 24 English
June 3, 2026 · 43 min
About this episode
The episode discusses Europe's digital sovereignty and the challenges it faces in the tech sector amidst global competition.
The list is long: strategic sectors in which Europe is rarely master of its own destiny – energy, manufacturing, even its nuclear deterrence. But what about digital? Who even owns the personal data of Europe's citizens? The European Commission is unveiling its tech sovereignty roadmap this Wednesday. At the dawn of the artificial intelligence revolution, as investors around the world anticipate record-breaking stock market debuts by Silicon Valley giants this month, and as the US president tightens controls on exports of sensitive AI technologies, how can this old continent scale up and compete? Should it build its own chips, store its own data, and train its workforce to adapt to the massive labour-market disruption already underway? Is it too late? Have the United States and China already won the race? And how can Europe achieve sovereignty while preserving what is arguably the EU's greatest strength: its rules-based order? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
People in this episode
Host: François Picard
Topics covered
- digital sovereignty
- European Union
- artificial intelligence
- data ownership
- technology competition
- labour market disruption
Keywords
- tech sovereignty
- personal data
- Silicon Valley
- AI technologies
- chips
- data storage
- workforce training
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: European Commission
Places: Europe, United States, China
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