Tech gap threatens EU digital sovereignty, Trequattrini warns
Banca d'Italia Deputy Director General Gian Luca Trequattrini warned that Europe faces severe technological dependencies in artificial intelligence and payments. Speaking in Milan on September 23, 2026, he called for scaled investment and the digital euro to secure digital autonomy.
The transatlantic investment chasm
European private investment in artificial intelligence reached 20 billion dollars between 2013 and 2023, compared to 330 billion dollars in the United States and 100 billion dollars in China.
Furthermore, the European Union is on track to reach only 12 million ICT specialists by 2030, trailing the European Commission target of 20 million.
While the InvestAI initiative aims to mobilize 200 billion euros in public and private investment, including 20 billion euros for AI Gigafactories, this falls short of the 800 billion euros in annual funding identified by the Draghi report.
In addition, three United States operators control approximately 70 percent of the European cloud market.
Digital money as a shield
Trequattrini stressed that critical infrastructure can become an immediate lever for geopolitical pressure, pointing to the 2022 exclusion of Russian banks from SWIFT.
He highlighted that retail payments rely heavily on non-European card schemes and tech platforms.
The digital euro provides a public paneuropean infrastructure to shield the Eurosystem from external service disruptions.
While frameworks like DORA establish oversight over critical third-party ICT providers, regulation alone cannot close industrial gaps without deeper domestic capital markets.
Rulebooks cannot buy computing power
Europe excels at regulatory design while lagging dangerously in commercial tech execution.
Mobilizing funds through public programs remains ineffective without deep private capital markets to scale homegrown champions.
Digital sovereignty will remain an illusion until the bloc matches rules with real financing power.