How the Covid-19 crisis left its mark on Digital Sovereignity in the European Union
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2023-08-24
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en
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In a world of rising geopolitical tensions and strife, the European Union is starting to position itself between the United States and China. In the digital realm, the EU started to mingle with Digital Sovereignty from 2015 onwards. In 2020 the COVID-19 virus spread over the world. As a result, several important shifts happened globally. During this time several policy proposals were published by the European Commission. This raises the question of how the political discourse in the European Union has changed in response to the COVID-19 crisis and why.
This study analyses official EU documents on Digital Sovereignty between 2015 and January 2020 and compares these to documents released between February 2020 and February 2022. It finds that the pandemic functioned as a catalytic event by magnifying, influencing, and adding to existing problems and strategic dependencies. It accelerated policy proposals with COVID-19 being used to justify these policies. These are aimed at providing security in multiple sectors but politicians refrain from naming China and the U.S. which it seeks to address. I argue that this discourse is aimed at positioning Europe as a neutral actor willing to fulfil a bridging role in the world of two fighting great powers.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen