Europe’s Digital Rulebook: How we got here – and what comes next?

Europe wrote the digital rulebook. But is it ready for what comes next?

The European Union has become one of the world’s most influential digital rule-makers. From data and platforms to artificial intelligence, Europe’s regulatory choices have shaped its own digital economy and influenced policy far beyond its borders.

But, since the launch of the liberalisation of telecommunications in the mid-80’s, the world in which digital regulation was built is changing fast. AI is advancing rapidly, global technological competition is intensifying, and economic security, competitiveness and strategic autonomy are reshaping Europe’s priorities.

What can we learn from the choices that built Europe’s digital model and what do those lessons tell us about where it should go next?

CERRE invites you to a special online conversation marking the publication of The Making of a Global Digital Rulebook: Digital Sovereignty and International Action in the EU, edited by Thibaut Kleiner and Andrea G. Rodríguez.

Bringing together senior officials and independent experts, the book traces how Europe’s distinctive approach to digital policy emerged. Through case studies spanning AI, data and platform regulation, it explores the development of digital sovereignty, strategic autonomy and economic security – as well as Europe’s ambitions in global digital governance.

This conversation will use that history to look forward. What worked – and what did not? Can Europe remain a global regulatory leader while strengthening its technological capabilities and competitiveness? And what should the next chapter of European digital policy look like?

Thibaut Kleiner, Director for Future Networks at the European Commission’s DG CONNECT and co-editor of the book, will discuss these questions with Bruno Liebhaberg, Executive Chairman of CERRE.

Their conversation will be moderated by Barbara Moens, EU correspondent for the Financial Times in Brussels, covering technology, digital and competition policy.

Join us for 45 minutes of forward-looking debate on the choices that built Europe’s digital rulebook and those that will shape what comes next.