Europe is under digital pressure. China’s authoritarian model and the market power of the USA are seen as competitive advantages in the era of digital transformation. An often-heard suggestion is that Europe must go its own, a third way that gives higher priority to the common good than in the US, but at the same time preserves a high degree of individual freedom – unlike in China. Innovation and ethics should be compatible on this European path and thus become a unique selling point. An alliance of values, rather than economic alliances of convenience, must now be in the foreground in order to survive in the era of digital transformation.

But what exactly are the values that make up Europe these days? The answer to this question is directly reflected in the shaping of our society: if digital technologies increasingly form the practical framework for the exercise (or denial!) of fundamental rights and freedoms, this poses completely new challenges – and value trade-offs – for politics. The primacy of politics is expressed in western societies. In Western societies, the primacy of politics is expressed through law – but what is the appeal of law, which is often, if at all, only enforceable in retrospect – especially at a time when technology and values are so intertwined and when technologies are under the influence of other countries whose values are directly incompatible with our own?