The road towards European digital autonomy

The debates around new technologies are often too abstract and unrealistic. For the benefit of our country and our adherence to national and European policies – given that Italy is among the founding members of the EU – it’s best to start with facts.

The databases holding the data that is fundamental to our country are, in many cases, outside of our national borders, and even outside of the EU. The same goes for other European nations. Moreover, the Europeans’ leadership in innovation is limited.

It would be unthinkable to change this state of things overnight, or in the space of a month. On the other hand, it would also be superficial and careless to resign ourselves to this condition. We cannot close our eyes in front of the risks that come with a changing world, which is filled with opportunities, but not only those.

It would be self-harmful if we did not look at the issue of what must be done to catch up, while international competition becomes ever more intense even as the critiques to globalisation become more frequent.

Globalisation can change, but in the short-to-medium term, at least, it will be characterised by competition. Thus, it will not allow us to lower our guard in front of present and future threats to our security and collective welfare. Especially with regards to the livelihood conditions of the weaker categories of our citizens.

With the Gaia-X project, which was initially brought forward by Germany and France and was later strengthened with our country’s commitment, European companies act to define common rules and standards that lay the foundations of a European cloud federation. The media doesn’t much care about it, but a group of leading [technology] companies from EU member states are involved.

In Italy, during the summer, the Department for Digital Transformation – which I lead – and Confindustria [General Confederation of Italian Industry] have set out the project’s manners and aims to potentially interested companies. So far, 28 Italian businesses adhered to it – no minor feat, as they are high-profile. And we hope to see more on board in the future.

This process is ongoing and not an end point. In this sense, a debate is underway with the German economy and energy minister Peter Altmaier, the French economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire, the European commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton and the leaders of the [technology] companies.

It will take time to build and reinforce Europe’s digital autonomy. But before we can do that, we must choose a direction of travel and put an end to the uncertainty and inactivity of the past decades.

I am convinced that this further step towards European integration cannot be read as quitting the traditional alliances of our countries. It’s not retrograde protectionism if we attempt to reach an understanding with other European states. Rather, it’s because we share with these countries – and Germany and France are EU founding members, too – a solid tradition of democracy, cultivated in the second part of the Twentieth Century.

Those same traditions brought us to open the door to our European brothers that were separated from us when the world was divided into two blocs, one that was allied with the US, and another under the yoke of the Soviet Union.

These values of freedom – of opinion and to do business, firstly – cannot but keep us in our privileged relationship with our allies across the Atlantic, the US and Canada, and with other democracies elsewhere.

We know that Europe, as of today, does not have the means to be on par with the technological and scientifical capabilities of major internet companies. Those are mainly based in the US and they can count on far-reaching capillarity as well as a cutting edge on new technologies.

It would be unrealistic to dismiss this fact. But it would also be defeatist to not look for an understanding with our European partners. Without renouncing our dialogue with the other side of the Atlantic, we can look for new paths to technological development, paths that can increase our right to have a voice on the data that influences our lives, our economies, and our production systems.

As our foreign minister Luigi Di Maio recently confirmed, “Italy is firmly anchored to the US and to the EU, to which we are bound by common values and interests.” This anchoring does not have to be reduced by the search for an increased technologic autonomy.

It is in our interest to grant a future of wealth and peace to democracies, as is asking ourselves and our companies to enhance our planning ability and our motivated ambition.

This article appeared in Formiche #164 and was translated from Italian