Golob, whose Freedom Movement belongs to the Renew Europe group in Brussels, has a Macronist message about boosting European industry. The continent must be “more aggressive,” he said, in its quest to build sovereign technologies — “strategic autonomy,” to use the French president’s parlance.
For Golob, that broader autonomy should be underpinned by five distinct pillars: a deeper capital markets union; an energy union; tech sovereignty, with a focus on AI; common European defense; and independent capacity and communications in space.
“Whoever is willing to go on a faster pace, come on, let’s get together and let’s do it on a fast pace. Unless we do that, we will never be able to catch up with China and the United States. Absolutely no way,” he said.
“Yes, there are some countries, including Slovenia, where we want to implement European sovereign solutions,” Golob added. “And we want really badly to do that. We don’t want to rely on Google or Meta to do the job for us, because then we will never again be competitive on a global basis.”
Golob described a personal trip he took to China last year as confirming his suspicions about just how far behind Europe trailed on advanced technology; but he is heartened by an apparent willingness among European nations — he highlighted the Benelux and Nordic countries, among others — to fight back fast.
“Germany and France — well, they do have their own differences, obviously — but both of them understand the need and necessity for this. That’s good news. I even see there’s a lot of common understanding for that outside the EU, like the U.K., on a strategic level. Even some others, like Canada. So that’s also good news,” Golob said.