The EU has huge potential to unlock a thriving digital economy. Since the pandemic, the number of successful European start-ups has grown rapidly, European businesses are increasingly adopting new technologies, and Europe is catching up with the US in deploying digital infrastructure. But there remain significant weaknesses that need to be urgently addressed to capitalise on these promising signs. European start-ups are growing in number – but they still struggle to scale up in Europe. Smaller businesses are falling behind in digitalisation. The EU’s efforts to build a data economy are not yet delivering results. And there remain large gaps in Europe’s digital infrastructure. As the EU heads to the polls in June, the next European Commission must tackle these challenges to help Europe’s digital economy take off. Some of the solutions, like building digital skills in Europe and developing an EU-wide capital market, will take time to achieve results. But the Commission should take several steps to accelerate digital growth.
Author: Zach Meyers, Assistant director of the Centre for European Reform.
This text has originally been published on the CER website.
