Growth model dependencies and the digital sovereignty agenda

The article analyses the importance of growth model dependencies for understanding the (non-)compliance with the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda. We focus on Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia, three Eastern and Southeast European countries with different dependence on foreign investment and trade, and with varying levels of direct dependence on China, different political regimes, and EU membership status. Comparative analysis reveals: first, dependence on Chinese investment (combined with a country’s illiberal political regime) is able to explain a member state’s non-compliance with the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda, as shown by the comparison of Hungary and Slovenia. Second, non-EU members’ dependence on Chinese investment and simultaneous dependence on EU countries for trade and investment leads to partial compliance due to the stronger role of conditionality, as seen in the case of Serbia. Overall, the results show that when seeking to explain (non-)compliance with the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda, one must not simply consider political variables (regime type or EU membership status), but primarily the structural growth model dependencies on China with respect to the type of regime and EU membership.