Ten EU Countries Agree on Bloc-Wide Blockchain Project: Europeum for Sovereignty and Data Security

Ten EU countries have agreed on a bloc-wide blockchain project called Europeum, aiming to provide tools for the public and businesses in a bid for EU sovereignty. The project, launched during a meeting of telecommunications ministers at the European Council in Brussels, is set to introduce blockchain infrastructure to revamp record-keeping and data transfer between the bloc’s 27 member states.

Mathieu Michel, the Belgian state secretary for digitalization, emphasized the tangible impact Europeum will have on the daily lives of European citizens. The blockchain infrastructure will allow individuals to trace the origins of products and enable businesses to protect their intellectual property through immutable blockchain networks.

While ten European member states have agreed to help operate and roll out the EU blockchain, more nations are expected to join in the future. Germany and France have not committed to the arrangement yet, but France has shown support for the project.

Michel highlighted the importance of creating a new sovereign infrastructure rather than depending on external services like Amazon Web Services for telecom. The blockchain project aims to automate legal and bureaucratic processes through smart contracts and support metaverse applications and the European Central Bank’s digital euro.

The European Commission has been working on the blockchain infrastructure since 2017 under the European Blockchain and Services Infrastructure agency. The project has now transformed into a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium, supported by the European Commission and the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 with a budget of €165 billion.

Michel emphasized the importance of data security and exchange between nations, administrations, and companies, stating that the primary goal of Europeum is to ensure the safety of data usage. The project is seen as a significant step towards achieving EU sovereignty in the digital realm.

Inbar Preiss, DL News’ Brussels correspondent, can be contacted for further information on the Europeum project.