Digital Sovereignty and Central Europe

Digital sovereignty (DS) is a new but prominent political discourse in the European Union with the potential of changing the shape of EU's political and economic orders. While the discussions are only starting, it is already clear that Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has been relatively silent in them and is thus at risk of becoming invisible on the emerging map of a ‘digitally sovereign’ Europe. This project interrogates the rise of the DS discourse within the EU and the position of CEE actors within it. We ask the principal research question of ‘What do the discourses and practices of digital sovereignty do to and in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular with respect to its position within the EU?’ Our aim is to understand the differentiated impact of the EU transformation conducted under the banner of DS on the power relations between CEE and other actors within the EU. In particular, we ask whether DS can be used as a tool of empowerment of CEE, or rather as yet another source of divide between "new" and "old" member states.