The EU digital strategy between sovereignty and green transformation: Political milestones, policy fields and strategic narratives

Wulf Reiners and Matthias Kachelmann

No 33/2025, IDOS Discussion Papers from German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Abstract: Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and technological developments such as artificial intelligence, digital transformations affect almost all areas of social, economic, and environmental life. Emerging as a tool for addressing challenges - but also as a source of new problems or as an amplifier of existing challenges - digital transformation has increasingly become the focus of initiatives at the European Union (EU) level. Since 2015, the EU has developed a comprehensive digital agenda spanning various policy domains, ranging from bolstering the single market to addressing foreign and security policy concerns. This paper examines the evolving landscape of digitalisation-related EU policies through the lens of strategy documents and policy guidelines, with particular emphasis on developments between 2020 and 2025. It explores the EU's overarching approach towards digitalisation - its conceptualisation, objectives, and self-defined role in shaping the digital revolution. The analysis reveals that the EU addresses digitalisation through a multitude of policy-specific strategies and guidelines, characterised by four predominant strategic narratives: A geopolitical ("digital sovereignty"), an environmental ("twin transitions"), a socio-political ("fundamental rights"), and an economic ("growth and competitiveness") narrative.

Keywords: Digitalisation; digital strategy; digital transformation; EU; EuropeanUnion; narrative; strategy; sovereignty; GreenDeal; AI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:diedps:334469

DOI: 10.23661/idp33.2025

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