July 2026 – Official Blog of UNIO

By the Editorial Team

The recently released Special Eurobarometer on the Digital Decade 2026 offers an insightful view into the hopes and concerns of European citizens regarding the digital transformation. A large majority of Europeans (73%) believe that the digitalisation of daily public and private services is making their lives easier or much easier. An even wider majority (79%) consider that digital policy should be a high or very high priority for the EU. The EU also gets passing marks on the protection of digital rights, with about 51% of respondents stating that the EU protects their digital rights fairly well (46%) or very well (5%). Satisfaction is, however, not unanimous with a statistically relevant 37% of respondents arguing that the EU does not protect their rights very well (30%) or not well at all (7%).

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is a growing presence in the daily lives of Europeans. Currently, 43% are using it at least once a week in their personal life and 39% in their work and studies. Most respondents also report increases in use. Without prejudice, important concerns are still present and to achieve a successful integration of AI in the economy without hindering fundamental rights, they need to be addressed. 78% of citizens consider that AI should be developed in an environmentally friendly way and, in fact, 20% even cite environmental impacts as a key barrier to AI adoption. Privacy and data protection concerns (39%), along with concerns about accuracy and incorrect information (36%) and ethical issues (32%), are the most cited barriers to AI adoption. Labour-related concerns are also very much on top of Europeans’ minds with 28% citing potential job losses due to generative AI and 27% lack of training or skills. Europeans are also largely unwilling to sacrifice safety for AI development, with an overwhelming majority (80%) saying that “the development of AI should be carefully regulated to ensure safety, even if this means that AI developers face some constraints”.

With this in mind, the current issue of UNIO appears to reflect the concerns of EU citizens, including articles on AI, data protection, environmental issues, labour rights, and the rule of law.

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