E-Europe Master's Programme, Department of European Studies, Sofia University and
Digital Republic Association
warmly intite you to:
a public lecture by Dr. Branka Marušić
How to Build the Digital Internal Market within the EU:
Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place
About the Lecture:
The lecture will explore the complex challenges and strategic dilemmas facing the EU in its pursuit of creating and maintaining the Digital Internal Market. Framed by the metaphor of being ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’, the lecture looks into the tension between national digital sovereignty and EU-wide harmonisation efforts, as well as the balancing act between fostering innovation and ensuring regulatory control.
Key themes will include the fragmentation of digital regulation on the EU level, the influence of global tech giants, data privacy concerns (particularly post-GDPR), and the EU’s ambition to assert digital autonomy while maintaining competitiveness on the global stage. The lecture will also examine recent policy initiatives such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, assessing their potential to unify digital rules and level the playing field.
More importantly, the lecture will highlight the political, economic, and legal trade-offs inherent in crafting a cohesive digital strategy for the EU, ultimately questioning whether the goal of a truly integrated Digital Internal Market is achievable, or destined to remain an elusive ideal.
About the Speaker:
Branka Marušić, Stockholm University, Sweden, is an Associate senior lecturer in intellectual property law.
She is a qualified Croatian lawyer with diverse professional experience working as a legal practitioner, academic, and consultant in projects involving harmonisation and codification of laws in the EU. Dr. Marušić holds an LL.D. and an L.L.M. degree from Stockholm University, and a mag.iur. degree from Zagreb University. Her primary work interest is the harmonisation of laws in the EU for which she has participated in over 40 projects for the EU Commission. She has written a monograph with Edward Elgar and more than 30 scientific journal contributions on the topic of harmonisation.
This event is part of the 'Digital Europe' series.
