EuroDIG 2021 Virtual — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. EuroDIG met fully online for a second consecutive year on 28–30 June 2021, still hosted by ICTP Trieste and broadcast from studios in Bruges, Belgrade and Trieste; 703 registered and 470 took part.
2. Under 'Into Europe's Digital Decade', debates covered the EU's Digital Compass 2030 targets, the draft DSA and DMA, the NIS2 directive and a renewed encryption fight dubbed 'Crypto Wars 3.0', captured in the EuroDIG Messages 2021.
3. The European platform-regulation blueprint taking shape here later became a global reference point — while the in-person Trieste meeting itself was postponed to 2022.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on EuroDIG 2021 in Virtual draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 Catalogued as the Trieste meeting, but held fully online for the second consecutive year due to the worsening pandemic outlook. ICTP (Trieste) remained host — focus sessions ran from Studio Bruges, workshops from Studios Trieste and Belgrade — and the in-person meeting was carried over to 2022 ('third time's a charm')

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. A Second Virtual Year — Hoping 'Third Time's a Charm'

Sessions: Overall meeting operations and opening

• With the pandemic outlook worsening, the Trieste meeting went fully online for a second year: 703 registrations, 470 attendees, plus livestream viewers [1][7][2]
• A three-studio format carried the event — focus sessions from Bruges, workshops from Trieste and Belgrade [1][7][2]
• Host ICTP agreed to carry its role over to 2022, with organisers hoping 'third time's a charm' for an in-person meeting in Italy [1][7][2]

2. Europe's Digital Decade — The Digital Compass as a Navigation Chart

Sessions: Keynotes (incl. Roberto Viola, European Commission)

• The European Commission's Roberto Viola presented the Digital Compass — the EU's 2030 targets — as a navigational map for the decade of digital development [4]
• Krzysztof Szubert, Poland's High Representative for European Digital Policy, urged Europe to develop and deploy new technologies and seize the opportunity data brings [4]
• ICT sustainability, greenwashing prevention and e-waste were also framed as Digital Decade issues [4]

3. DSA and DMA — Rewriting Intermediary Liability After 20 Years

Sessions: Focus sessions and workshops on platform regulation

• The EuroDIG Messages 2021 recorded that infrastructure intermediaries had sat in the legal 'shadows' since the 2000 e-Commerce Directive, and that liability exemptions and explicit categorisation of digital services needed clarifying [5][3][4]
• The draft DSA was framed as modernising the rules and reducing legal uncertainty around provider liability [5][3][4]
• Debates also covered content moderation at the infrastructure level and interoperability as a competition remedy (DMA) [5][3][4]

4. Cybersecurity and Encryption — NIS2 and 'Crypto Wars 3.0'

Sessions: Security and encryption workshops

• MEP Bart Groothuis, negotiating the NIS2 directive, pressed companies to act ethically and proactively on cybersecurity [4][3]
• A renewed clash over lawful access versus end-to-end encryption was dubbed 'Crypto Wars 3.0' [4][3]
• COVID-19 vaccination data served as a test case for debates on data sovereignty and governance [4][3]

5. Open Science — A Distinctive Angle from a Physics-Institute Host

Sessions: Keynote 03 (Ana Persic, UNESCO)

"The open science recommendation of UNESCO is the first international law instrument on open science"
— Ana Persic (UNESCO) [6][1]

• Fitting for a meeting hosted by a physics research centre, the intersection of science and Internet governance took centre stage [6][1]
• UNESCO's Recommendation on Open Science, then heading for adoption in November 2021, was presented, with debate on equitable access to research knowledge [6][1]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. So what did the conference actually decide?

A. EuroDIG doesn't 'decide' — it's Europe's regional IGF for open dialogue. The takeaways were distilled into the EuroDIG Messages 2021 and shared with the global IGF, capturing Europe's mood as the DSA and DMA were being negotiated.

Q. What was the most contentious topic?

A. Encryption. Demands for lawful access collided head-on with defence of end-to-end encryption — participants called it 'Crypto Wars 3.0'. Where to draw platform liability lines was the other big fight.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The DSA/DMA blueprint shaped here became the 'Brussels effect' template that platform regulation debates worldwide — including Japan's — still reference.

What Is EuroDIG? (for first-time readers)

EuroDIG is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2021 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. EuroDIG 2021 — eurodig.org (accessed 2026-07-10)
2. Consolidated programme 2021 — EuroDIG事務局 (accessed 2026-07-10)
3. EuroDIG 2021 and EuroDIG Extra — DiploFoundation (accessed 2026-07-10)
4. EuroDIG 2021 Live Blog — RIPE NCC (accessed 2026-07-10)
5. Messages — EuroDIG 2021 — eurodig.org (accessed 2026-07-10)
6. Keynote 03 2021（セッション書き起こし） — EuroDIG事務局 (accessed 2026-07-10)
7. European Dialogue on Internet Governance — en (accessed 2026-07-10)

Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.

Related links

• IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
• Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
• Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/

Revision History

Rev. 1 — published 7 June 2021, 09:00 (Article published)

Rev. 2 — updated 10 July 2026, 23:16 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))

— 中澤祐樹