Amid global rumbling over digital data theft and misuse, the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has announced to officially launch a new European technology fund with a value of around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).
The announcement comes amid growing reservations against the US BigTech companies including Google and Facebook that are accused of data manipulations and are facing a number of cases and fines and scrutiny by EU watchdog.
The move is also viewed as a renewed push by the EU administration enabling the European tech sector to compete with the US and Asian rivals.
Le Maire announced this new fund on Monday as he spoke at an event on France’s digital policy plans, with France having taken over the European Union’s presidency over the next few months.
During the announcement, Le Maire also emphasized the need for the EU to become less dependent on foreign leaders in the tech sector. This new European tech fund will combine 10 to 20 funds “at a minimum value of one billion euros to finance tech champions,” said Le Maire.
Le Maire also reiterated France’s “absolute” commitment to nuclear energy. “There is no technological sovereignty without energy sovereignty,” he said.
