Joana Covelo de Abreu (Editor of this blog and Key-staff member of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “Digital Citizenship & Technological Sustainability” – CitDig, Erasmus+.)
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Whilst awaiting the results of the US mid-term elections, we have perhaps witnessed the first electoral process in which digital transformation – and, in particular, the pressures that have accompanied it – has had a significant impact on democracy. Indeed, the debates surrounding data centres and a possible moratorium played a decisive role in last Tuesday’s US elections: “Datacenters […] were on the ballot in elections in at least 40 jurisdictions across 10 states” and “[v]oters responded with a strong rebuke of the giant buildings, which have has become a symbol of the tech industry and AI” (here).
Discussions concerning the Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2028 to 2034 [COM(2025) 571 final] are running in the EU but its main objectives must be discussed, albeit briefly, in the light of how this proposal addresses the objectives considered essential for the EU: maintaining European competitiveness in a digital world, whilst reaffirming its core values, and how this may be reflected in the democratic perception of the EU.
Democracy plays a vital role, in that it reflects the need for political power to balance all the interests affected by its decisions, clearly defining the common good from a material, temporal and spatial standpoint. The material manifestations of the European common good are deeply linked to an understanding of how the EU can maintain its competitiveness in a digital world, whilst promoting its “way of life”, that is to say, by promoting its core values, pursuing its objectives as enshrined in Articles 2 and 3 of the TEU respectively, and upholding its high standards of protection for individuals and free competition. Its timeframe is aligned with the digital decade in which we live [COM(2021) 118 final], running until 2030, without forgetting its commitment to serving as a global benchmark, whilst participating in the setting of international standards, notably through cooperation with private entities involved in their development (Declaration for European Digital Sovereignty, November 18th 2025).
Continue reading “Approaching the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 – some introductory remarks on its impact on the European democracy”
