On 3 June 2026, the European Commission put on the table a package that can hardly be downplayed in its ambition: the European Technological Sovereignty Package. officially a collection of legislative initiatives and strategies, unofficially something like Europe's attempt at a digital declaration of independence.
Addendum: Günter Born of Born's IT- and Windows-Blog has brought the whole thing to the point and the 3rd of June simply Digital Independence Day called. I celebrate this title. It hits the core better than any official press release from the EU Commission could. I will continue to use the term here.
So: What did the EU decide on its Digital Independence Day? More importantly, what does this mean in practice?
What's on the table
The package consists of two legislative proposals:: On the one hand, the Chips Act 2.0 and the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), and on the other hand, the EU open source strategy and a strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in the energy sector. The aim is to increase the digital independence of the EU, to enhance autonomy in key enabling technologies, while strengthening the Union’s competitiveness and resilience.
The reason for this move is that Europe remains heavily dependent on providers from outside the EU for key digital technologies and the demand for computing capacity is growing rapidly with the spread of AI. It aims to reduce structural dependencies and ensure that Europe can develop, deploy and secure the technologies that Europeans rely on.
Addendum: The package was discussed on 16 June at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where Commissioner Henna Virkkunen stressed the need for Europe to become independent in the digital field and achieve technology leadership in the long term.
Let's look at the four blocks individually.
Building block 1: Chips Act 2.0: Semiconductors made in Europe
The Chips Act has been in force since 2023 and was the EU's first response to critical vulnerabilities in the global semiconductor supply chain. AI-powered components are expected to boost future growth and are expected to account for more than 70 percent of the semiconductor market by 2030.
The EU is now making progress on commercially available chips, but is still heavily dependent on third countries, in particular for advanced production facilities and chip design. The Chips Act 2.0 is therefore intended to help build new capacities in state-of-the-art semiconductor technology for AI applications, accelerate approval procedures, deepen cooperation with partners and introduce a seal of excellence for European semiconductors. In addition, the EU Commission is to develop a guide to crisis management in the semiconductor sector by spring 2027, which contains clear procedures and responsibilities in the event of supply chain disruptions.
That sounds reasonable. Especially after the chip shortages of recent years, everyone knows how quickly a shortage of semiconductors can paralyze entire industries.
Building block 2: Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) Europe's AI foundation
The Cloud and AI Development Act is part of the AI Continent Action Plan and has three priorities: the promotion of research, development and innovation in the cloud and AI domains, the development of European computing and cloud capacities and the strengthening of the EU’s technological sovereignty.
More specifically: The goal is to triple the capacity of data centers in Europe over the next five to seven years and drive the practical adoption of AI.
In short: Europe wants to stop buying AI computing power mainly from AWS, Azure and Google. Whether this succeeds is another question – but the approach is correct. By the way, Born points out that the plans have already attracted international attention and could affect Amazon, Google and Microsoft in their cloud offerings.
Building block 3: Open source strategy, in other words: Software from a European source
This is the part of the package that I find most exciting. There are more than three million people in Europe who contribute to open source solutions. The open source strategy builds on this strength to develop and deliver more sovereign solutions, with open source alternatives in priority areas such as cloud, AI, internet technology, cybersecurity and semiconductors.
It also aims to promote greater use of open source solutions in public administrations through procurement guidelines and best practices. This will be done, inter alia, through initiatives such as the Open Internet Stack.
If the EU is really serious about this, it would be a real lever. Not sexy, but effective.
Building block 4: AI and digitalisation in the energy sector, i.e.: Off to New Land 😉
The strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in the energy sector aims to accelerate the deployment of digital and AI solutions to make Europe’s electricity infrastructure smarter. Data centers should be integrated into the energy system in a sustainable and transparent way.
For the development of a pan-European AI model for electricity grids, network operators and research institutes are to be brought together in a targeted manner. Measures are also foreseen to better address cybersecurity risks, in particular in the area of digital infrastructure for solar and wind energy generation.
The reactions: Basically yes, but …
The package is in principle well received in the EU Parliament. EU MEP Elisabeth Grossmann (S&D) welcomes the fact that European cloud solutions should be preferred, at least in sensitive public tenders. However, her colleague Alexandra Geese (Greens/EFA) criticises the overall lack of clear guidelines for European solutions in public tenders.
Born brings to this a justified page swipe: The EU speaks of digital sovereignty, while the EU Parliament wants to switch to the search engine Qwant in the IT systems of its members and employees of Google. It is only a small step, but it shows that movement is also slowly coming in internally. On the other hand, the EUID wallet is just running via Apple or Google account. You don't have to comment on that …
Addendum: By the way, the comment section under Born's article reflects very well the mood out there: A lot of skepticism, justified criticism of years of announcements without action but also the sober assessment that a process for the gradual reduction of dependencies is at least the right approach. I can agree with that.
Why June 3 is not an arbitrary date
Ten days after Digital Independence Day came the fable ban of the US government. And suddenly what the European Commission had formulated as an abstract political agenda was not only very concrete, no very real! Who until then thought digital sovereignty was a buzzword for officials in Brussels, had it black on white: An export control memo from Washington can shut down tools that companies and developers worldwide pay for and rely on globally overnight.
Commissioner Virkkunen explicitly cited US sanctions and the US export ban on powerful AI models from Anthropic as examples of the risks of existing dependencies. That was prophetic almost two weeks later. Only she didn't know at the time.
My conclusion: Correctly recognized, implementation open
The European Technological Sovereignty Package is not a mere hype document. It addresses real vulnerabilities, identifies concrete measures and has legislative substance with CADA and Chips Act 2.0. This is more than the EU has often achieved in this area in the past.
But (and this is an important but) now not to break out into cheers is appropriate, because everything is initially statements of intent. The EU has made many such announcements in recent years. What is missing on a regular basis is speed of implementation.
If the Chips Act 2.0 runs like its predecessor, then Europe will still rely mainly on US cloud and US AI in 2030. This has been plagued by years of approval procedures and investments, which always seem to flow too slowly. Even the most beautiful declaration of independence won't help.
TL:DR
Nevertheless, it is right and important that the EU puts in place appropriate legislation. Maybe something will move at the end of the day. The next two years will show whether the Digital independence day – which officially European Technological Sovereignty Package (Technical Sovereignty Package to strengthen Europe's digital autonomy and resilience) means that it really was DI-Day or just another entry in the long list of well-intentioned EU strategy papers.