The demand for European control
67% of EU citizens would prefer digital tools developed in Europe if they worked like those used today. The figure emerges from the Bertelsmann Stiftung's eupinions survey, conducted by Nira Data in June 2026 among 16,795 people in the 27 member states, as reported by Agenda Digitale. In Italy the share falls to 57%, below the EU average.
The underlying concern is concrete: 73% of respondents fear that actors outside Europe could remotely disable essential digital services, the scenario known as kill switch. 72% believe it is important for Europe to control key infrastructures and technologies such as cloud, networks, software and artificial intelligence. Political language, however, is less widespread than the objectives: only 49% know the expression digital sovereignty, while 72% share its central idea.
Safeguards before preferences
The demand for sovereignty translates above all into protections: 83% want transparent and secure systems in essential public services, from healthcare to elections to justice; 78% call for effective legal remedies in Europe in the event of damage or failures; 69% want data to be stored and processed in Europe and to remain European-owned. Only 43% consider Europe's current regulatory capacity over foreign digital services effective, with another 43% of negative assessments and 14% uncertain.
A comparison between countries shows wide gaps: in Sweden 80% would choose European alternatives at equal functions, in the Netherlands 76%, in Germany and Portugal 75%; Romania stops at 54% and France at 60%. Detailed national data cover ten countries and, the source specifies, do not by themselves explain the reasons for Italians' lower interest. Political differences also emerge: European control of infrastructures matters to 79% of the centre-left and 41% of the far right.
Companies are changing strategy
On the corporate front, the European Investment Bank's 2026 report, published on November 9 and based on about 12,000 EU firms and 800 US firms surveyed with Ipsos, finds that 64% of European companies are changing at least one area of their strategy to address economic security risks: 41% are acting on technology choices and innovation, 34% on market strategies, 33% on partners, 32% on procurement and 27% on investments. 55% report negative effects from such risks, and 82% invest in protection against cybercrime.
The gap with the United States concerns diffusion more than development: 67% of EU firms use generative AI versus 71% in the US, but only 20% of European firms invest in innovations that already exist but are new to the company, versus 44% of US firms. The figure on technological changes, the EIB warns, does not identify the nationality of the selected suppliers.
Procurement and sovereignty framework
The institutions have already begun purchasing according to sovereignty criteria: on April 17, 2026, the European Commission awarded a framework contract worth up to €180 million over six years for sovereign cloud services, with four awards involving Post Telecom with Clever Cloud and OVHcloud, STACKIT, Scaleway and Proximus with partners including Mistral and S3NS. The latter is a joint venture between Thales and Google Cloud, demonstrating that a European supply can incorporate non-European technologies.
To calibrate autonomy, the Commission has introduced a Cloud Sovereignty Framework with 48 criteria assessing ownership, jurisdiction, data control, operations, supply chain, technologies and security; the clarification of June 1, 2026 requires at least SEAL-2 level on data sovereignty, while SEAL-4 imposes much stricter conditions across the entire chain. The technology sovereignty package of June 3, 2026 includes proposals for a Chips Act 2.0, a Cloud and AI Development Act and an open-source strategy. The progress of the proposed rules remains to be verified, separately from the contracts already awarded and the products available today.
