Three agreements have collapsed or become unstable in eleven years. The question is no longer whether the next deal will hold — but why you should rely on it in the first place. Digital sovereignty means choosing solutions under legislation you can actually influence and trust.
In 2023 the third major EU-US agreement was put in place. It lasted less than three years. In June 2026 the US Supreme Court removed the independent oversight the entire deal relied on. Three collapses in eleven years is a pattern.
After Safe Harbor came Privacy Shield. More principles, an ombudsperson and promises of better protection. In 2020 the Court of Justice of the EU invalidated this agreement too. The same fundamental problems remained.
A simple 2000 agreement was supposed to make it legal to send personal data to the US. In 2015 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled the bridge was unsafe. That was the start of a pattern we are still living with.
The strategy exists and the direction is clear – but the change still isn't happening. Here's how to move from insight to concrete action.
When no one really owns the question of digital independence, initiatives stall. Digital sovereignty is fundamentally a leadership question, not a technical one.