Two Visions: Digital Sovereignty Between Reform and Transformation

Last night, I attended an insightful and well-organized Bits & Bäume Policy Lab event at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society.

Cecilia Rikap delivered an expert breakdown of Big Tech’s dominance and how its control over our digital world extends far beyond mere ownership. She concluded with an inspiring call to resist and circumvent that dominance, emphasizing public procurement as a key lever for change. More details can be found in the report she co-authored here.

I’ve recently shared my reflections on the Eurostack proposal, and while a superficial comparison might put both proposals against each other, that is not fair to either. What I find most valuable in both reports is the vision they offer, one, a European reformist and strategic vision; the other, a global, democratic, and ecological vision. While tensions exist between them, they are not inherently incompatible. I believe that we live in a world with an imagination deficit and I welcome having more visions.

Another similarity between both reports is that their proposed solutions are constrained by the very qualities that make their initial analyses compelling. For the Eurostack report, it’s the pragmatism that limits its transformative potential. For the Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty report, it’s the uncompromising quality that challenges its feasibility.

The discussion at the end of the event tied everything together, with Alexandra Geese, Member of the European Parliament, shedding light on upcoming challenges at the European level—particularly the alarming push to dismantle regulations across the board, including in the digital space.

Adriana Groh, CEO of the Sovereign Tech Agency, emphasized the urgent need to translate policy into action and to protect the open building blocks of our digital world—elements that will serve as the foundation for lasting, cumulative change.

And that, I think, is crucial. We cannot allow our regulations and institutions to be dismantled in the name of some vague, ill-defined notion of innovation. At the same time, we must start turning words into action. I’d love to see elements of both of these proposals come to life.