“Shaping Europe’s Digital Future” Through a Change of Perspective: The Necessary Rethinking of the Relationship Between Regulation and Innovation in the EU

Abstract

The paper analyzes the EU’s digital regulatory framework and argues that its rapid expansion has generated significant multi-regulatory and multi-level enforcement challenges. Overlapping rules and fragmented authorities undermine legal certainty, increase compliance burdens, and risk discouraging innovation and investment. The paper calls for a recalibration of Europe’s digital governance through a Charter-centred balancing of fundamental rights, clearer coordination among regimes, and the use of adaptive regulatory tools. It proposes a model of multi-level economic constitutionalism that aligns legal coherence, institutional simplification, and material investments, enabling the EU to sustain a competitive, innovation-oriented and rights-compliant digital ecosystem.