Democratic Tech Alliance

The Democratic Tech Alliance is a coalition of members from different political groups in the European Parliament, with civil society actors, think tanks, experts and European businesses working to create an EU tech ecosystem that supports democratic values and the public interest.

The Democratic Tech Alliance (DTA) stands for a policy approach that contributes to developing a European tech ecosystem that supports Europe’s strategic resilience, democratic stability, innovative and decentralised, as well as human-centered technologies, and a fair as well as diverse market structure.

It believes that digital technologies are becoming the most critical infrastructures for our businesses, governments and citizens. Europe should democratise technologies and thereby uphold Europe’s democratic societies, in particular by promoting a collaborative and open understanding of tech development and deployment.

The DTA envisions Europe to become the place that stands for a different way of digitalisation, one that embraces sustainable and safe development and deployment of tech, that is based on interoperability and cooperation, that follows clear ethical principles, and that is safeguarded by efficient enforcement.

Achieving this vision requires leveraging Digital Public Infrastructures and public–private collaborations to incentivise economic models that genuinely align with the public interest, which are shared traits of European industry and European values.

Through strategic partnerships, smart incentive structures and coordinated industrial policy, Europe can achieve the control of critical layers of the tech stack. EU policies should strengthen business models that are built on interoperability, user empowerment and transparent data practices.

At the same time, the DTA feels that we must address harmful practices (i.e., such as excessive data extraction, surveillance-based monetisation, and revenue models that deliberately foster dependency or addictive behaviours) which currently give dominant players an unfair competitive edge. The core principles of the EU’s digital acquis and data protection rules need to be maintained and strictly enforced to strengthen digital infrastructures and services in line with European values.

DTA therefore adopts a strategy that prioritises the federation of technology leveraging interoperability for scale and creating a public interest aligned digital ecosystem while strengthening both the demand for and supply of European technological solutions.

It is important to underline that ensuring digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy cannot be achieved solely by regulation or through investment in domestic industry. DTA demands proactive policy coordination between public authorities, civil society, and the business community on the design of EU technologies.

A degree of democratic governance over essential digital infrastructures is necessary to ensure that they align with the public interest.

In all this, isolation or protectionism is not the approach DTA aims for. The EU must continue to work with trusted international partners, in particular in those areas where the EU lacks its own capacities. In the same vein we must consider the global impact of the EUs choices in a world with finite resources.