French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that Europe is not interested in being a “vassal” dependent on US and Chinese technology companies. He called for prioritizing European companies in this sector, TASR reports, according to an AFP report.
“Europe does not want to be a client of big business or big solutions provided either from the US or from China. It is clear that we want to design our own solutions.” said Macron at the Berlin summit with the central theme “Digital Sovereignty of Europe”. At the same time, he emphasized that this attitude represents a “refusal to be a vassal”.
„I firmly believe that putting Europe first must become our guiding principle, starting with public procurement,” Macron said. “Because you know what? The Chinese have Chinese exclusivity… and the Americans have a very strong American preference,” he said, recalling that a change of emphasis is needed in the European Union’s approach to legislation in this sector. “In the past years, we have prioritized the regulation of our domestic players,” Macron said. “We have to innovate before we regulate,” he emphasized.
The French president highlighted the importance of greater autonomy for Europe in the technology sector. “You cannot devote the power of your economy to the ‘Magnificent Seven’,” he said, referring to US tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. “Besides, you can’t delegate the entire functioning of your democracy to (the Magnificent Seven)… that’s intolerable,” he added.
