A €50 billion wake-up call: the digital energy frontrunners have a solution for making Europe energy-proof

Winter is coming. Europe has paid an estimated €50 billion extra for fuel since the Strait of Hormuz crisis began, without buying a single extra barrel[1]. That is a stark reminder of how exposed we are to volatile geopolitics. The less we depend on fuel we can’t control, the safer we all are. Digital technology is already part of the answer: it’s what lets grids handle more renewable power without breaking down. Europe must equip grid operators to speed up the shift from imported fuel to home-grown power. It also needs to put 25% of the next EU budget into critical technologies.

At DIGITALEUROPE’s Executive Board Strategy Days in Brussels, industry leaders called for one joined-up European response: cheaper home-grown energy, digital grids and serious investment in technologies made in Europe.

At the meeting, industry executives presented their recommendations on electrification, grid digitalisation and investment to Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra.

Europe has the technology, the industry and the ambition. Now it must move faster and at scale.

DIGITALEUROPE is calling for a binding 32% electrification target by 2030. It also wants grid and digital infrastructure permits issued within 12 months, with digital solutions treated as part of core grid investment rather than an afterthought.

Peter Weckesser, President of DIGITALEUROPE and EVP & Chief Digital Officer at Schneider Electric, said:

“Europe’s energy bill is a wake-up call. We cannot power tomorrow’s factories without electrification and with yesterday’s grid. Digital and AI can enable cleaner, reliable, and more affordable energy faster. The technology to make existing infrastructure intelligent and optimized is here. Now, set the target. Fix the grid. Advance.”

The same urgency must shape Europe’s next seven-year budget. More than 90% of the current EU budget and NextGenerationEU was pre-allocated from the start[2]. Europe cannot lock itself into the same rigidity again.

The European Commission has proposed an MFF worth almost €2 trillion for 2028–2034[3]. DIGITALEUROPE asks for 25% of it be dedicated to critical and digital technologies. It is also calling on policymakers to protect the proposed €450 billion European Competitiveness Fund and its €51.5 billion Digital Leadership window.

The discussion on the next MFF brought industry leaders together with Nathalie Berger, Deputy Director-General at DG GROW; Stéphane Saurel, Deputy Permanent Representative of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group to the EU; and Ioannis Vrailas, Ambassador of Greece to the EU, to exchange on how EU funding, procurement and private capital can help European companies scale.

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, said:

“€2 trillion for an EU budget sounds big. Spread across seven years and 27 countries, it disappears fast. Europe must stop funding a little of everything and start backing what will secure our future. Put 25% of the full 2tn multi annual EU budget into critical technologies. FIND. FUND. TEST. BUY & SCALE. That is how Europe turns great research into factories, jobs and global companies.”

Money must also move faster. DIGITALEUROPE wants funding decisions within 90 days, a straight path from Horizon Europe research to commercial deployment, and bigger growth rounds for European companies.

Public procurement can provide the first customer. EU guarantees, equity and co-investment can bring in private capital. Europe’s savings should finance Europe’s scale-ups.

National governments must now match European ambition. They can move before the new budget starts in 2028 by directing eligible national and Recovery and Resilience Facility resources towards projects ready to deploy.

The message from the Strategy Days was clear: Europe’s energy security, competitiveness and technology base now depend on the same thing: investment at speed and at scale.

[1] European Commission, ‘Remarks by Executive Vice-President Ribera and Commissioners Hoekstra and Jørgensen at the press conference on the EU Emissions Trading System review and the Electrification Action Plan’, SPEECH/26/1643, Brussels, 17 July 2026.

[2] European Commission, The road to the next multiannual financial framework, COM(2025) 46 final, Brussels, 11 February 2025.

[3] European Commission, ‘The 2028–2034 EU budget for a stronger Europe’, 16 July 2025.