Cyberspace as an Emerging Regulatory Domain in European Union Law: Cybersecurity and Digital Strategic Autonomy
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Cyberspace has evolved from a primarily technological and economic environment into a complex legal and strategic domain in which economic activity, public administration, fundamental rights, security interests, and geopolitical competition increasingly intersect. The growing dependence of the European Union and its Member States on digital infrastructures, information systems, data flows, cloud services, and emerging technologies has exposed significant vulnerabilities, particularly in relation to cyberattacks, critical infrastructure, technological dependencies, and external control over strategic digital resources. These developments have prompted the European Union to progressively construct a regulatory framework capable of addressing cyberspace as a distinct field of legal intervention. This article examines the emergence of cyberspace as a regulatory domain within European Union law. The research adopts a doctrinal and analytical methodology based on the interpretation of relevant provisions of the Treaties, secondary legislation, policy documents, and selected case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Particular attention is given to the legal foundations of EU action in the field of cybersecurity, the division of competences between the Union and the Member States, and the role of instruments such as the NIS and NIS 2 Directives, the Cybersecurity Act, the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act. The analysis demonstrates that, although the Treaties do not expressly recognise cyberspace as an autonomous area of competence, European Union law has gradually developed a functional and cross-sectoral regulatory approach. Cyberspace is increasingly governed at the intersection of the internal market, cybersecurity, public order, fundamental rights, and strategic resilience. This evolution also reveals a persistent tension between the need for coordinated European action and the preservation of Member States’ competences in matters of national security. The article further analyses digital strategic autonomy as an emerging legal and political principle through which the European Union seeks to reduce critical technological dependencies, protect digital supply chains, secure essential infrastructures, and strengthen its normative capacity in relation to global technology actors. It argues that digital strategic autonomy is becoming a central element of the Union’s collective sovereignty and resilience. Finally, the study advances several proposals de lege ferenda, including the recognition of digital strategic autonomy as a general principle of EU law, the creation of a special legal regime for digital infrastructure of strategic European interest, and the development of a European right to digital continuity. The article concludes that cyberspace should be expressly and coherently integrated into the contemporary legal architecture of the European Union in order to ensure security, competitiveness, institutional resilience, and the effective protection of fundamental rights.
Author: Aurel-Octavian Pasat
Institution: "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid:
OpenAlex ID: W7204027633