Digital constitutionalism, EU digital sovereignty ambitions and the role of the European declaration on digital rights

Abstract

The European declaration on digital rights and principles represents the latest EU contribution to the complex process of constitutionalisation of the digital society. The Declaration, similar to many other Internet bills of rights emerged in the past few decades, shares the objectives of digital constitutionalism. It aims to update the constitutional normative framework to face the challenges of the digital revolution. To this end, the Declaration aspires to make rights and principles that should guide EU actors in the context of the digital transformation more visible. Its mission is twofold: programmatic and educative. On the one hand, it is a political document, aiming to set the objectives and commitments that the Union and its Member States should pursue to implement EU values in the digital society where we live. On the other hand, it is an educational tool: it aims to disseminate the EU visions for the digital transformation both internally, to raise societal awareness on digital rights, and externally, to promote the EU digital model in the world. The chapter reconstructs the legislative history of the Declaration, positions this initiative within the EU regulatory and policy framework in the digital field, assesses the overall degree of innovation of its content, re-contextualises this initiative within EU digital sovereignty strategies and evaluates its potential contribution to the agenda of digital constitutionalism.

Keywords: digital sovereignty, digital rights, society, constitutionalisation,