References to Europe’s dependence on US technology and caution towards China are no longer to be found in the latest version of the European Union’s ‘International Digital Strategy’, which the Commission is due to publish on Wednesday 4 June and which Agence Europe has been able to obtain. The EU no longer considers the possibility of fully breaking away from the domination of US tech companies to be “unrealistic” (see EUROPE 13651/2). This passage has simply been removed.
The new version of the text emphasises pragmatic cooperation, “not only with long-time like-minded partners, but with any country with which we share interests and respect for fundamental values. On digital technologies, as in all fields, the EU is open for business and its businesses are open to the world”, it says.
The ‘Competitiveness Compass’ (see EUROPE B1356511) is no longer presented as a “symbol of a strong political will to focus on the development of technological competitiveness”.
Of the four priorities mentioned in the working version, only one is missing from this new version: security and strengthening the resilience of so-called ‘critical’ production chains, the mention of which has been diluted in the passages dedicated to international cooperation.
The current document adds a reference to the future development of an “Integrated Tech Business Offer”.
This global offering should support the “deployment of secure and trusted connectivity, Digital Public Infrastructure, AI and software solutions”.
The aim, according to the text, would be “to tailor and combine technology components in a modular approach - balancing the interests of partner countries and the EU, in order to create a package of mutual benefits”.
This offer would be managed “together” by the EU and its Member States as part of a ‘Tech Team Europe’ approach involving European companies, EU development finance institutions and export credit agencies. “It will build on existing external financing tools and investments by the private sector”, it says.
To see the new version: https://aeur.eu/f/h5m (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)