EU's cloud and AI infrastructure should be sovereign, says Danish digital minister
"How to manage our own data, how to process our own data and how to use our own data is of great importance," Danish digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen told Euractiv
Cloud and AI infrastructure need EU sovereign solutions, Danish digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen told Euractiv in an interview during the Informal Telecom Council in Denmark on Friday.
“How to manage our own data, how to process our own data and how to use our own data is of great importance,” she said, adding that it is therefore “necessary” to explore sovereign European solutions for AI infrastructure and cloud.
Under the Danes’ six-month Presidency, the Council is currently preparing conclusions on priorities for the Digital Decade and digital sovereignty has been given high priority. But the Council has pitched for taking a “balanced approach”, according to the latest draft seen by Euractiv, which urges the delivery of sovereign solutions in “an open manner” – underscoring that, among EU countries, there’s ongoing push and pull on the topic.
“I think it’s very important that we don’t make decisions to isolate us in Europe as a whole in terms of the digital economy,” Olsen also told Euractiv. But she also suggested that certain key areas – “strategic sectors” – require sovereignty.
“It would be ignorant not to look into the digital areas,” the minister said. “The only thing I’m saying is that let it not be all areas.”
France remains a staunch supporter of a purist – or unconditional – form of digital sovereignty, as we reported earlier. On the other hand, the Dutch are leading a push to water down certain digital sovereignty requirements in the relevant Council conclusions as they are focused on prioritising fair competition.
“I’m the presidency, so I don’t have beliefs, of course,” added Olsen, responding to the tension between EU countries on how much sovereignty there should be. “I think we should find a way in between,” she noted. “I totally agree with France… in [the] need of [for digital] investments.”
The draft text of the Council conclusions also cites “strategic” use of EU measures for digital investments in the EU.
But the Danish minister also emphasised that sovereignty cannot be the goal for each and every digital sector – because it is “simply… not the European way to do business”. “We are globalisers, we trade with the entire world, and that has made us richer,” she added.
(nl)
