Abstract: Year 2026 meets a volatile and divided international policy landscape where the past goals,values and pathways are questioned, challenged, or even discarded. For the EU, the sustainability of digitalization,both at home and around the world, is a fundamental, if not existential theme. Policy imperatives likeresponsible ArtificialIntelligence, prevention of datalocalization, more streamlined exchanges of non-personal data around the world, or collective attribution, will require the EU to review and repurpose the rich institutional-procedural landscape of globaldigital and cyber governance.In this paper,we will model a three-step approach to digital and cyber policy leadership: a strong identity as a global digital and cyber actors, clearly articulated and well-groundedglobal cyber and digital governance leads and a way to both track and operationalize the existing landscape of digital and policy processes.

Keywords: EU Digital Sovereignty, Global Cyber Governance, Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Governance, Search Costs, Cross-Border Data Flows

Citation Recommendation: Tikk, Eneken (2026). “EU in Global Digital and Cyber Governance: Leads and Pathways”. NAVIGATOR working paper, WP. 4, D.2 (February), pp. 1-31. https://eunav.eu/