In the last twenty years, we have seen a profound shift in global power.
Military strength still matters, but the real battleground today is digital: data, platforms, cloud infrastructures, AI models, and the rules that govern them.
Right now, this battleground is dominated by two giants: the United States and China.
On one side, a handful of American tech corporations shape much of our online life. On the other, a powerful Chinese state–tech ecosystem is expanding its reach across infrastructure, hardware, and platforms.
Europe is the world’s largest democratic market, but digitally it often behaves like a user, not a player.
We consume American platforms, we buy Chinese hardware, and we negotiate from a position of dependency rather than autonomy.
If this continues, Europe will not simply “lag behind”.
It will lose the practical ability to decide how its societies function in the digital age.
