Vigenin: Europe's digital security must not depend on foreign solutions

“Europe cannot protect its hospitals, energy grids, public administrations and elections with tools that could disappear because of a decision taken in Washington or anywhere else outside the European Union.” This was stated by MEP Kristian Vigenin during the plenary debate in the European Parliament on the European Commission’s new Action Plan on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. The plan aims to help Member States and businesses deal with the growing cybersecurity risks linked to the development of artificial intelligence, and to strengthen European capacity in this strategic area.

Vigenin stressed that Europe must develop its own technological capacity while keeping its partnership with its allies, but made clear that cooperation must not mean dependence.

Questions to the European Commission

The MEP put three specific questions to the European Commission which, in his view, will show whether the proposed Action Plan delivers real results: “First, what guarantees that the case of ENISA and Anthropic will not happen again? Second, what is the timetable for building real European capacity in artificial intelligence for cybersecurity, including for the EU institutions, national authorities, municipalities and businesses? And third, where will the funding come from?”

Vigenin drew attention to the contradiction between the ambition for more security and the reluctance of some Member States to provide the necessary European resources. “Some Member States talk every day about security, defence and geopolitical threats, but at the same time insist on limiting the EU budget, precisely when Europe needs the capacity to act. This undermines our security while we pretend to be sovereign,” he said.

Digital sovereignty

In his words, digital sovereignty cannot be achieved only by supporting the private sector. “Digital sovereignty means public investment, democratic oversight and accountability, not simply subsidising a few private companies to build data centres in Europe,” the MEP warned.

In conclusion, Kristian Vigenin said that Europe needs concrete solutions, not just new strategies. “We need an Action Plan with clear deadlines, secured funding and effective implementation. Not yet another strategy that sounds convincing in Brussels but leaves Europe vulnerable when the next crisis hits,” he summed up.