Globalization has not disappeared; it has only changed form: while it once connected the world without marked rivalry, today it is accompanied by tension, uncertainty, and a struggle for digital supremacy. Cyberspace and artificial intelligence are pushing interconnectedness into new dimensions, yet Europe is lagging in this race. What does this imply for our security, economy, and the rules of the game?
Digital globalization: AI, data, and Europe falling behind
Although supply chains are being rearranged, “virtual” globalization is gaining strength, and its engine is artificial intelligence. Technological acceleration has two centers of gravity—the USA and China—while Europe is losing steam due to weaker competitiveness and a fragmented internal market. Barriers between member states in practice operate as if there were a high tariff-like surcharge on goods and services, which holds back growth as well as innovation.
Data are the new strategic commodity—the “oil of the 21st century”—and cyberspace is becoming a domain of power. Instead of constraining regulation, smart standardization makes sense: interoperable interfaces, portability between providers, and strengthening data ownership by their originators. Just as open banking standards enabled clients to switch banks freely, unified digital interfaces would allow Europe to be a “smart second mover” and to leverage the globally built infrastructure efficiently without having to finance all of it.
A path for Europe: standards, integration, and a common approach
The difference between a barrier and a lever lies in the design of rules: standards that open the market and increase competition versus regulations that unduly stifle innovation. Europe is strongest where it has shared competences—trade policy is an example, in which it acts as one large market. If it wants to keep pace in the digital space, it needs less fragmentation and more coordination, from data portability to joint testing and AI safety standards.
Political economy, however, dictates acting realistically: when full harmonization stalls, space opens for informal cooperation among the EU’s strongest economies or a “28th regime”—a voluntary unified framework that companies can opt into to operate across countries without a tangle of national rules. The greatest risk is that we fail to adapt—not only in AI, but also in the basic competitiveness of industry and services. The greatest opportunity is a common approach by democratic economies that, through open standards and clear rules for data, translates digital interconnectedness into growth, innovation, and security.
