Telefonica chairman and CEO Marc Murtra (pictured, right) insisted European sovereignty will only be possible with simplified regulation and a commitment to building technology within the continent, while stressing strategic autonomy does not mean isolation.

Speaking at the 2026 Cercle d’Economia meeting held in Barcelona on a roundtable about AI and European technological sovereignty, Murtra argued Europe needs to accelerate the development of its own technologies to keep pace in a world shaped by AI, quantum computing and new autonomous systems.

Murtra said building out technologies had become a determining factor for countries’ economic competitiveness, productivity, resilience and “decision-making capacity”.

In this context, however, he does not believe taking such an approach will mean isolation on the global stage, rather it gives Europe the ability to develop and control critical capabilities in areas such as energy, digital infrastructure, semiconductors and AI.

“Strategic autonomy is the relevant concept. No economy is completely independent, but Europe must strengthen its capabilities to reduce excessive dependencies in key technologies,” he said.

Protect European values
Delving deeper into Europe’s needs, Murtra explained strategic autonomy requires combining investment, industrial capacity, innovation, talent and forming “a shared long-term vision”.

This vision, he added, should be centred on defending and preserving “very important values linked to democracy, human dignity and the ability to say what we think.”

On the point of regulation, the Telefonica executive believes simplifying rules and focus does not mean eliminating anything, but “rather prioritising what drives innovation, competitiveness and strategic autonomy”.

He concluded: “Europe has the GDP, the talent, the engineers, the companies and the institutions” to lead the next technological revolution.

Murtra’s comments coincided with a new European Commission (EC) proposal to boost the continent’s sovereignty, outlining renewed focus on semiconductors, AI, cloud and open source.

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