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Europe’s digital policy landscape has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years, with sweeping regulations on privacy, cybersecurity, data governance, and artificial intelligence. Yet despite these efforts, the digital rulebook remains fragmented and incoherent. Europe stands at a digital crossroads: while the tech sector is shaping European economies and societies at unprecedented speed, overlapping obligations, inconsistent norms, and regulatory complexity are placing a heavy burden on industry and undermine its competitiveness and the capacity to innovate.The goal is clear: Europe must become sovereign, secure and competitive in the digital sphere. The European People’s Party (EPP) has stressed this vision in their recent position paper on digital policy, which aligns with the analysis presented by KAS and ZVEI in their paper on Europe’s digital innovation: While 2025 has already seen simplification and omnibus approaches in the European policy agenda, these approaches must translate into a harmonized and streamlined framework that delivers greater coherence across EU digital legislation.
In this light, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung European Office and ZVEI, the German Electro and Digital Industry Association, are delighted to invite you to a Think Digital! panel, following up on a highly successful format in the past. Hosting a high-level panel, we would like to take stock of 2025 as a year of a shift towards simplification in EU policy. Are these efforts enough to meet the challenge of making Europe’s digital policy competition – and innovation friendly?
We are delighted to have Member of the European Parliament Dr Andreas Schwab, Martin G. Löhe, Director Corporate Regulatory Affairs at Miele, Johannes Nitschke, Senior Director EU Government Affairs at Siemens and a European Commission representative (tbc) join us for this timely discussion. This presents an opportunity to assess whether Europe will be able to unlock—rather than constrain—the economic potential of the digital economy. The time has come to Cut and Simplify— toward a digital, and globally competitive Europe.
Download the agenda: Programme 25-11-19 Think Digital.pdf
