Escape Forward: Connecting dots beyond the antitrust island

Cristina Caffarra speaks with Andreas Klinger on Europe's Leap Forward

Cristina Caffarra picks out the highlights and her key takeaways from the landmark “Rebuilding European Sovereignty” Conference -Brussels 28 January 2026.

Julius Krein of American Affairs discusses what’s behind the US Administration National Security Strategy document which created such discombobulation in Europe. A rational tour de force of the conservative perception and assessment of Europe – from “civilizational” issues and culture wars to the EU’s “overreach”, defence decline, lack of “course correction mechanisms” to face the obvious economic issues, and finally the “moralizing” instead of “transactional” approach. And if we hate it, “no one really cares”. How many wake up calls do we need?

𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘄 (the “Renaissance man” author and activist) has a 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 on "𝗘𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. We discuss the 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀, but above all: 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲?  Cory traces the collapse of our online experience (from the "good old internet" to the current "enshitternet") to 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 which in turn allowed entrenchment of surveillance models based on wanton exploitation of our data. What forces could restore discipline on tech firms? Cory is a believer in competition and regulation (together with adversarial interoperability and tech worker power). He is still optimistic about antitrust enforcement and regulation surging across the globe, and praises Europe's "muscular" enforcement...I am not there:  in the wake of the "nothing burger" Google Search remedies in the US, of the FTC's loss of the Meta case, in the week where US trade officials fly to Brussels to put the dilemma starkly: "𝗗𝗠𝗔 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝘀?" "𝗗𝗠𝗔 𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗹?",  antitrust and regulation are not the name of the game at this point.  Cory remains optimistic - I think it's build or bust. Always super fun with him!

Europe is in the throws of an accelerating, urgent mobilisation around “digital sovereignty” – which does not mean protectionism and does not mean autarky: instead, an industrial project - led by industry – to strengthen our assets and capabilities, reduce dependencies and improve resilience. Not “just” for security, but for productivity and growth. A scintillating conversation on “Europe’s Quest for Digital Emancipation » (where are the choke points ? how did we get here ? how do we make it real ?) with two of the most influential »cage rattlers «  around, fully intent on awakening European tech : Rafael Laguna and Dietmar Harhoff