Research Paper
An agenda for digital sovereignty
The concept of sovereignty has taken center stage in the digital policy debates in the EU. Yet, for digital sovereignty to become more than a discursive hook signalling that Europe can no longer be naive about the realities of the geo-tech world, it must be translated into concrete ideas of where Europe should be headed and how to get there.
Open Future Foundation has pointed out before that when it comes to digital sovereignty, Europe needs to put money where its mouth is. There is no better way to do that than through reforming how the EU invests in and buys digital services and infrastructure. With the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and a public procurement reform on their way, this conversation could hardly be more pertinent.
Traditionally, debates around the EU budget have been dominated by industrial, economic, and state-centric perspectives, with limited engagement from other stakeholders. As the EU increasingly embraces an industrial policy approach, it is crucial to ensure that the social implications of investments in digital infrastructure are not overlooked.
This brief sets out five concrete policy interventions aimed at leveraging the 2028–2034 MFF as a catalyst for advancing Europe’s digital sovereignty. By prioritizing investment in public digital infrastructure and digital commons, these proposals highlight how strategic public action can drive systemic change across the entire lifecycle of digital technologies—from funding and core infrastructure to adoption, applications, and governance.
This agenda recommends five interventions:
- Funding Reform—bridging the gap between research, innovation, deployment and maintenance so that technologies that serve public interest can scale instead of withering or being forced into extractive models.
- Sovereign Cloud Infrastructure—securing the foundational layer that underpins many digital services by reducing power concentration at the infrastructure level.
- Strategic Public Procurement—leveraging Europe’s vast spending power to create demand for sovereign alternatives.
- Digital Public Space and Sustainable Information Ecosystem—protecting the information layer from corporate or state capture and ensuring access to pluralistic and accountable communication spaces.
- Digital Commons EDIC Institutional Framework—supporting cross-border coordination and long-term stewardship and maintenance to avoid fragmentation and sustain investment over time.
For each proposed policy intervention, the brief specifies the relevant budget channel under the Commission’s MFF proposal and, where applicable, indicative funding envelope. The recommendations in this brief build on the European Commission’s MFF proposals of 16 July 2025.
The interventions are intended as a starting point for consultation, inviting expert feedback and stakeholder engagement. Through such validation, the proposals outlined in the brief can be refined, expanded, and grounded in broader perspectives, helping to ensure that investment in Digital Commons and public digital infrastructure effectively supports a vision of digital sovereignty that serves people.
From PUBLIC INVESTMENT TO PUBLIC VALUE
NGI Commons (Open Source and Internet Commons for Europe’s Digital Sovereignty) project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement number 101135279. This work has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
