Digital sovereignty and Europe’s democracy stack: Delivering on the European Union’s priorities for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework

The report identifies 'Europe’s Democracy Stack' as a strategic public infrastructure consisting of independent organizations that perform nine critical public-interest functions, including disinformation research, digital rights litigation, and compliance monitoring. Despite its importance to the EU's digital sovereignty, the analysis finds that the stack is overwhelmingly dependent on non-EU funding—specifically US government and philanthropic sources—which is currently contracting. The authors argue that the EU's current short-term grant-based funding is structurally mismatched with the long-term nature of these functions. To close this capability gap, the paper proposes two primary reforms for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF): cost-neutral changes to the AgoraEU program to provide multiyear operating grants and the creation of a €1 billion European Democracy Stack Endowment Fund to provide a permanent funding anchor.

• Europe’s Democracy Stack is a strategic public infrastructure composed of independent organizations performing nine public-interest functions: internet governance, digital rights, disinformation research, fact checking, independent media support, foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) analysis, democratic resilience, trust and safety infrastructure, and compliance monitoring.
• The collective annual operating budget for Europe’s Democracy Stack was approximately 144 million in the latest full year available, which equates to roughly 0.27 per resident annually across EU and candidate countries.
• The funding for this capability is heavily reliant on non-EU sources; in 2024, EU institutional funding accounted for only 12% of income, while US government and philanthropic sources provided approximately 56%.
• There is a significant structural vulnerability due to the contraction of US funding. For example, USAID's Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance program for Europe and Eurasia (excluding Ukraine) saw a 75% reduction from a 2024 baseline of $195.8 million, and the US State Department's Global Engagement Center closed in December 2024.
• Current EU funding mechanisms are inadequate because they rely on short-term grants (12 to 36 months) that do not align with the long-term horizons required for activities like strategic litigation, which can take up to 10 years, or longitudinal FIMI monitoring.
• The authors propose a 1 billion European Democracy Stack Endowment Fund to create a permanent funding floor, which would provide approximately 4050 million annually (roughly one-third of the current operating budget) at a sustainable payout rate of 45%.

APA

Scott, M., & Woods, R. (2026). Digital sovereignty and Europe’s democracy stack: Delivering on the European Union’s priorities for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework. Global Disinformation Index. https://www.disinformationindex.org/files/Digital_sovereignty_and_Europe_s_democracy_stack_09_2026.pdf

Chicago

Scott, Mark, and Richard Woods. Digital sovereignty and Europe’s democracy stack: Delivering on the European Union’s priorities for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework. Global Disinformation Index, 2026. https://www.disinformationindex.org/files/Digital_sovereignty_and_Europe_s_democracy_stack_09_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Scott |first1=Mark |last2=Woods |first2=Richard |title=Digital sovereignty and Europe’s democracy stack: Delivering on the European Union’s priorities for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework |publisher=Global Disinformation Index |date=September 2026 |url=https://www.disinformationindex.org/files/Digital_sovereignty_and_Europe_s_democracy_stack_09_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scott2026digital, author = {Scott, Mark and Woods, Richard}, title = {{Digital sovereignty and Europe’s democracy stack: Delivering on the European Union’s priorities for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework}}, institution = {Global Disinformation Index}, year = {2026}, month = sep, url = {https://www.disinformationindex.org/files/Digital_sovereignty_and_Europe_s_democracy_stack_09_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }