“We must be able to defend ourselves from the cyber attacks“warned the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. The “protection of the mental health of our children and adolescents depends on a European digital sovereignty“according to the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
To the conquest of one’s own sovereignty, against the current dominance of China and the United States In this area, the Franco-German axis will be consecrated, according to the leaders of the traditional European motor. At stake, Merz continued, “the protection of sensitive data“, now fluctuating in foreign ‘clouds’. “Europe cannot continue to be a client” of foreign global giants, in the words of the German chancellor, at a time when “tectonic shifts” have turned Europe into a witness of “endemic rivalries” between the United States and China.
The challenge and objectives of Berlin and Paris are clear. As it is also true that providing Europe with the desired technological independence implies invest. “Digital sovereignty is expensive, but it is more expensive to depend on others,” summarized the German leader. Your Government will allocate in the current legislature 18 billion euros to the development of innovative digital technologies, Merz recalled. Today, the leading European power is lagging behind other European partners in terms of digitalization, both in the public and private spheres and in healthcare. Essentially an update should be expected from this package. The decisive push must come, Merz admitted, from the industry. The role of the political establishment, at national or European Union level, focuses on achieving debureaucratization and what the chancellor described as “radical simplification” of regulations at the level of the community bloc. “For Europeans to be competitive we need agile regulations, as well as innovative technologies,” said Macron. Only in this way “will we be able to defend ourselves from extraterritorial hostile factors,” according to the French president.
Collateral damage from the tariff war
The current situation of dependency weighs down essential sectors for the German economy, as recently demonstrated with the disruptions caused by the lack of chip supplies in the large German automotive consortiums. The problem arose after assuming control of the microprocessor company Nexperia the Government of Netherlandswhere that firm owned by the Chinese company is located Wingtech. The origin of the conflict is tariff war between China and the United Stateswith collateral damage to the entire sector. Volkswagenamong other companies, had to be employed in the accelerated search for alternatives to Chinese supplies.
To avoid bottlenecks, the current dependence on Chinese and American technology must be overcome. This is the objective of the so-called Summit for European Digital Sovereignty, with Merz and Macron as promoters, and the attendance of representatives from the entire community bloc. Concerning what would happen if, suddenly, the United States and China closed their switch, there was concern about the meeting. From night to morning, the iPhone or Android telephony, the Microsoft server or ChatGPT They would leave us in limbo, summarized the German public television ARD.
On behalf of Spain, the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service attended the summit, Oscar Lopezwho highlighted the consonance of his Government with the approaches of the entire community bloc. “We know that the big technology companies are North American. We know that there is a Chinese model in development. We have to find a European model,” said López, in an aside from the summit, in statements to Efe.
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