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Brussels, 3 June 2026

On the day the European Commission launches the ‘European Technological Sovereignty Package’, a new MCC Brussels report argues that the EU’s pursuit of "digital sovereignty" is a fundamental category mistake that is systematically destroying Europe's technological potential.

Ursula von der Leyen, marking the release of the tech sovereignty package, asserts that the EU “cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure.” The MCC Brussels report demonstrates how this fundamentally misunderstands the reality of digital markets, innovation, and economic power. 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. 

The report The Grand Delusion: The EU’s quest for digital sovereignty, by technology analyst and Visiting Research Fellow Dr Norman Lewis, challenges one of the European Union's most influential policy concepts.

The report argues that “digital sovereignty" 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.

"The modern digital economy is not a territory to be enclosed," said Dr Lewis. "It is a global network of interdependent technologies, supply chains, platforms, and infrastructure. No country- not even the United States or China- is digitally sovereign. Europe's future lies not in sovereignty, but in agency, leverage, and indispensability.”

The report examines the EU's 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.

Drawing on detailed case studies, Lewis contrasts France's Minitel system-perhaps the closest historical example of genuine digital sovereignty-with the success of Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML.

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.

"ASML shows what real technological power looks like," Lewis argues. "Its influence comes not from controlling a territory, but from occupying a chokepoint through which the entire global semiconductor industry must pass.”

The report contends that Europe's most successful technological achievements—including ASML, IMEC, Airbus, SAP and Novo Nordisk—emerged where institutions created favourable conditions and then stepped back, rather than attempting to designate champions or engineer outcomes from above.

Among its key conclusions, the report argues that: 

  • No country - not even the United States or China - possesses genuine digital sovereignty across the technology stack.
  • Europe’s regulatory power should not be confused with technological capability.
  • The EU's digital sovereignty agenda has too often prioritised regulation and targets over innovation and competitiveness.
  • Europe should focus on building strategic chokepoints in areas such as photonics, advanced semiconductors, quantum technologies, industrial software, and precision biotechnology.
  • Policymakers should create conditions for long-term innovation rather than pursuing politically attractive but ultimately unsuccessful sovereignty projects.

The publication comes amid renewed debate in Brussels over Europe's 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.

"Europe's obstacle is not Silicon Valley or Shenzhen," Lewis concludes. "It is the institutionalised technocratic mindset that confuses announcements with achievement and regulation with capability. Europe needs chokepoints, not the delusion of digital sovereignty.”

The full report is available here through this link from MCC Brussels.

https://brussels.mcc.hu/uploads/default/0001/02/69ced55c256c62892218ae8128c5ed0633b57efc.pdf

 

About the Author

Dr Norman Lewis is a Visiting Research Fellow at MCC Brussels and an internationally recognised expert on technology, innovation and digital transformation. He previously served as Director of Technology Research at Orange and as a Director at PwC.