Toward European Digital News Sovereignty

Europe faces a mounting threat to democracy from the flood of misinformation, rising polarisation, and radicalisation of the public sphere. An unholy alliance between Big Tech and populist forces is eroding democratic decision-making and undermining democratic institutions.

Europe cannot remain passive. An effective shield for democracy must not only regulate Big Tech and combat disinformation, but also actively support and strengthen reliable news sources, as well as build a sovereign European information infrastructure.

The framework for such a solution already exists. Two STOA studies have demonstrated the feasibility of a European streaming platform that would provide every citizen with access to trusted news from all EU Member States in their own language, as originally conceptualised by the Council for European Public Space (CfEPS). This would represent a decisive step toward creating a true internal market for news and empowering citizens with reliable information.

A common EU news infrastructure would, in its first phase, make the news and information programmes of the Public Service Media, which Europeans pay for at a total cost of € 27 billion per annum, accessible to all citizens. In a second phase, private media could join the same standards-based platform, vastly expanding pluralism and accessibility. Powered by real-time AI translation and advanced content discovery, the platform would embody Europe’s ambition to deploy AI for the public good and reinforce European technological sovereignty.

The investment required is modest compared to the impact: with an estimated € 40 million per year, reliable information would instantly multiply by a factor of 27 across Member States — delivering exponential benefits for democracy, media pluralism, and citizen trust.

Our challenge is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of action. We must now clear the path for swift implementation by public service media and the broader news industry. This roundtable will bring together Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the authors of the STOA government study, and civil society representatives to agree on a clear roadmap for implementation and to define the next steps.

Europe’s democratic resilience depends on action. The question we face is not whether we can afford to build this infrastructure, but whether we can afford not to build our own capacities now.