The EU’s International Digital Strategy is framed against the backdrop of a transformative digital and Artificial Intelligence revolution that is reshaping global economies, defence systems, and governance structures.[1] It argues that technological leadership now determines not only economic competitiveness but also national security and sovereignty.[2] Countries that fail to master digital technologies risk economic marginalisation and weakened strategic autonomy.[3] This framing aligns with broader debates about “digital sovereignty” in Europe, defined as the capacity of the EU to act independently in the digital sphere while remaining open to cooperation.[4] The concept also reflects the EU’s response to technological dominance by the United States and China. The Joint Communication explicitly acknowledges the productivity gap between the EU and the United States, referencing the Draghi report to highlight structural weaknesses in scaling technology companies.[5] This echoes OECD findings that the EU lags behind the US in digital intensity and high-growth tech firms.[6] The strategy also emphasises the risks of weaponised technological dependencies and technology leakage.[7] These concerns are consistent with the EU’s broader Economic Security Strategy, which identifies critical technologies as potential leverage points in geopolitical competition.[8]
2. Digital as a Core Element of EU External Action
The Joint Communication positions digital policy as central to the EU’s external action and foreign policy.[9] It underscores the EU’s commitment to the rules-based global order and fundamental values such as democracy, rule of law, and human rights (Joint Communication, 2025). This value-based framing is consistent with the EU’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which embed fundamental rights and competition principles into digital governance.[10] Scholars often describe this approach as the “Brussels Effect,” whereby EU regulation shapes global standards.[11] The strategy defines three primary objectives: boosting competitiveness, strengthening security, and shaping global digital governance.[12] In doing so, it links trade, defence, cybersecurity, and regulatory diplomacy into a coherent external digital policy framework.[13] The EU’s Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, referenced in the Communication, provides internal benchmarks for connectivity, skills, and infrastructure investment.[14] The Digital Decade sets targets such as 80% of adults having basic digital skills and full 5G coverage across populated areas by 2030.[15] By integrating internal capacity-building with external partnerships, the strategy reflects a “dual-track” model: strengthening the EU internally while projecting regulatory and technological influence externally.[16]
3. Scaling a Global Network of Digital Partnerships
The Communication highlights the expansion of Digital Partnerships, Trade and Technology Councils (TTCs), and Digital Dialogues as core instruments of EU digital diplomacy.[17] Examples include TTCs with the United States and India and Digital Partnerships with Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Canada.[18] The Communication also links digital cooperation to enlargement and neighbourhood policy, including Growth Plans for the Western Balkans and facilities for Moldova and Ukraine. This aligns with research suggesting that digital integration can accelerate EU accession reforms and regulatory alignment.[19] Through the Global Gateway strategy, the EU invests in digital infrastructure projects such as submarine cables and connectivity corridors.[20] Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in sustainable investments globally between 2021 and 2027.[21] These initiatives demonstrate that the EU seeks not only regulatory influence but also tangible infrastructure leadership.
4. Secure Connectivity and Emerging Technologies
The Communication emphasises secure and trusted digital infrastructure, including 5G networks, submarine cables, satellite connectivity, and supercomputing.[22] It references instruments such as the 5G Toolbox and the Action Plan on Cable Security.[23] Cybersecurity of 5G networks has been a central EU priority since 2020, aiming to mitigate risks linked to high-risk vendors.[24] On Artificial Intelligence, the strategy promotes a human-centric, trustworthy AI model and references the AI Continent Action Plan.[25] This approach aligns with the EU AI Act, adopted in 2024, which establishes a risk-based regulatory framework for AI systems.[26] In semiconductors, the EU aims to enhance supply chain resilience and cooperate with global leaders while protecting economic security.[27] The EU Chips Act seeks to double Europe’s global semiconductor market share to 20% by 2030.[28] Quantum technologies and dual-use AI applications are also highlighted as strategically important.[29] NATO has similarly identified emerging and disruptive technologies, including quantum and AI, as central to future security.[30]
5. Cybersecurity, FIMI, and Digital Public Infrastructure
Cyber threats are described as borderless and increasingly hybrid in nature.[31] The Communication references the Cyber Resilience Act as a new standard for secure-by-design digital products. The Cyber Resilience Act introduces mandatory cybersecurity requirements for hardware and software products placed on the EU market.[32] The strategy also addresses Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and algorithmic transparency,[33] which has been developed by the EU as a toolbox to counter coordinated disinformation campaigns. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and interoperable digital identities are identified as areas where the EU can export regulatory and technical models.[34]
6. Global Digital Governance and Multilateralism
The Communication underscores the importance of multilateral fora such as the UN, G7, G20, OECD, and Internet governance institutions.[35] It commits the EU to implementing and defending the UN Global Digital Compact.[36] The UN Global Digital Compact establishes shared principles for an open, free, and secure digital future.[37] In the Joint Communication, the EU also reaffirms its support for the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance and opposition to state-controlled internet architectures. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) remains a key platform for this multi-stakeholder approach.
The EU’s International Digital Strategy represents an ambitious attempt to integrate competitiveness, security, and values-based governance into a single external digital policy.[38] It combines regulatory influence, infrastructure investment, trade policy, and defence cooperation into a comprehensive geopolitical digital strategy.[39] Externally, it seeks to project the EU model of human-centric digital governance while building strategic partnerships and reducing dependencies.[40] Internally, it reinforces the EU’s Digital Decade objectives and economic security agenda.[41] Ultimately, the strategy reflects a broader transformation of EU foreign policy, where digital policy is no longer a technical domain but a core instrument of geopolitical power and multilateral engagement.
[1] European Commission, ‘Joint Communication on an International Digital Strategy for the EU’, 5 June 2025, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/joint-communication-international-digital-strategy-eu (hereinafter: Joint Communication, 2025).
[2] Joint Communication, 2025.
[3] Joint Communication, 2025.
[4] European Parliamentary Research Service, ‘Digital Sovereignty for Europe’, 2020, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/651992/EPRS_BRI(2020)651992_EN.pdf.
[5] Joint Communication, 2025.
[6] OECD, ‘OECD Economic Surveys: European Union and Euro Area 2025’, 3 July 2025, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-economic-surveys-european-union-and-euro-area-2025_5ec8dcc2-en/full-report/strengthening-productivity-and-the-single-market_ecdfe548.html.
[7] Joint Communication, 2025.
[8] European Council, ‘European economic security’, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/european-economic-security/.
[9] Joint Communication, 2025.
[10] European Commission, ‘Digital Services Act’, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act-package.
[11] Anu Bradford, ‘The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World’ (New York, 2020; online edn, Oxford Academic, 19 Dec. 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190088583.001.0001.
[12] Joint Communication, 2025.
[13] Joint Communication, 2025.
[14] Joint Communication, 2025.
[15] European Commission, ‘Europe’s Digital Decade’, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/europes-digital-decade.
[16] Joint Communication, 2025.
[17] Joint Communication, 2025.
[18] Joint Communication, 2025.
[19] See for example: Bojana Bajic, Sanja Damjanovic and Goran Pastrovic, ‘D4.1 – Policy Brief on the Digital Transformation in the Western Balkans (Status 2023)’, GSI, 27 February 2024, https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5093c5722&appId=PPGMS.
[20] Joint Communication, 2025.
[21] European Commission, ‘Global Gateway’, https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/stronger-europe-world/global-gateway_en.
[22] Joint Communication, 2025.
[23] Joint Communication, 2025.
[24] European Commission, The EU toolbox for 5G security’, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/eu-toolbox-5g-security.
[25] Joint Communication, 2025.
[26] European Parliament, ’Artificial Intelligence Act: MEPs adopt landmark law’, Press Release, 13 March 2024, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240308IPR19015/artificial-intelligence-act-meps-adopt-landmark-law.
[27] Joint Communication, 2025.
[28] European Commission, European Chips Act, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-chips-act.
[29] Joint Communication, 2025.
[30] NATO, ‘Emerging and Disruptive Technologies’, 25 June 2025, https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_184303.htm
[31] Joint Communication, 2025.
[32] European Commission, Cyber Resilience Act – https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cyber-resilience-act.
[33] Joint Communication, 2025.
[34] Joint Communication, 2025.
[35] Joint Communication, 2025.
[36] Joint Communication, 2025.
[37] United Nations, ‘Global Digital Compact’, https://www.un.org/techenvoy/global-digital-compact.
[38] Joint Communication, 2025.
[39] Joint Communication, 2025.
[40] Joint Communication, 2025.
[41] Joint Communication, 2025.
