Summary The proposed Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) is designed to complement the Digital Decade Policy Programme (Decision (EU) 2022/2481) by providing the concrete legislative measures needed to achieve its digital targets, particularly regarding compute capacity and data centre deployment. While the Digital Decade sets high-level goals and monitoring frameworks, it lacks specific support measures for deploying compute capacity or data centres. CADA fills this gap by introducing mechanisms such as data centre acceleration zones, sovereignty assurance levels, and the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiatives. This synergy ensures that the EU can meet its 2030 objectives for secure and sustainable digital infrastructures, advancing all four cardinal points of the Digital Decade: a digitally skilled population, secure infrastructures, business transformation, and public service digitalisation.

Detail

The Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), proposed by the European Commission on 3 June 2026 (COM(2026) 502 final), is explicitly structured to work in tandem with the existing Digital Decade Policy Programme. The Digital Decade establishes four cardinal points for the Union's digital transformation: (i) a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals; (ii) secure and sustainable digital infrastructures; (iii) digital transformation of businesses; and (iv) digitalisation of public services. However, as noted in the CADA explanatory memorandum, the Digital Decade "sets out a target for monitoring the deployment of edge nodes, but it does not include either a target for measuring progress in the deployment of compute capacity or data centres in the EU or concrete support measures for their deployment."

CADA addresses this structural gap by leveraging the Digital Decade's existing monitoring framework while introducing a robust regulatory and operational framework to ensure the targets are met.

Leveraging Monitoring and Addressing the Capacity Gap

CADA leverages the Digital Decade's existing yearly monitoring exercise to create synergies between the two instruments. Under Article 15 of the CADA proposal, the Commission is tasked with monitoring the Union's progress in increasing compute capacity, identifying the volume of demand for data centre capacity, and determining the size of the capacity gap. This monitoring is directly linked to the objectives of the Digital Decade Policy Programme. By using the Digital Decade's framework as a baseline, CADA ensures that the identification of underserved areas and capacity gaps informs the designation of data centre acceleration zones (as detailed in Article 10). This creates a feedback loop where the Digital Decade's targets drive the specific infrastructure deployments mandated by CADA.

The proposal aims to triple EU data centre capacity in the next five to seven years, a goal that aligns with the Digital Decade's ambition for secure and sustainable digital infrastructures. While the Digital Decade focuses on monitoring, CADA provides the "concrete support measures" required to bridge the gap between ambition and reality. The proposal simplifies and harmonises the deployment of data centres EU-wide, ensuring their sustainability and balanced geographic distribution, which the Digital Decade alone could not enforce.

Advancing the Four Cardinal Points

CADA supports all four cardinal points of the Digital Decade Policy Programme through specific, actionable provisions:

  1. Digitally Skilled Population: Article 5 of CADA establishes a network of Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI (Centres for AI), built on the existing European Digital Innovation Hubs. These centres are tasked with providing upskilling and reskilling schemes in close collaboration with the AI Skills Academy. This directly supports the Digital Decade's goal of ensuring a highly skilled digital workforce by creating regional and local accelerators for AI adoption. The proposal also mandates the development of a common cloud and AI curriculum to equip workers with advanced competencies.
  2. Secure and Sustainable Digital Infrastructures: As noted, Articles 10–14 of CADA introduce data centre acceleration zones, single information points, and facilitated permit-granting processes. These measures ensure that the infrastructure underpinning the Digital Decade is not only deployed at scale but also meets high sustainability standards. The proposal requires Member States to use key performance indicators defined in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 when setting sustainability requirements for data centres in acceleration zones. Furthermore, the sovereignty framework established in Title IV ensures that these infrastructures are resilient and free from undue third-country control.
  3. Digital Transformation of Businesses: Article 3 and Article 4 of CADA outline the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiatives, which aim to stimulate demand and promote the deployment of cloud and AI technologies across the private sector. By supporting the development of cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies and providing access to computing resources, CADA helps businesses meet the Digital Decade's target of 75% of enterprises adopting cloud computing services, big data, and AI. The proposal specifically targets the "digital transformation of businesses" by fostering the uptake of cloud services provided by European providers.
  4. Digitalisation of Public Services: Article 30 of CADA imposes obligations on contracting authorities to procure cloud computing services that meet specific Union assurance levels. This ensures that the digitalisation of public services, a key Digital Decade objective, is built on secure, sovereign, and resilient foundations. The proposal also supports the establishment of the EuroCloud Federation (Article 34), which facilitates the sharing of public sector data centre services, enhancing the efficiency and security of public service delivery.

Strategic Alignment and National Strategies

CADA requires Member States to adopt national cloud and AI strategies (Article 7) that are consistent with the Digital Decade's associated digital targets. These national strategies must include measures to accelerate cloud and AI adoption, support the deployment of data centre capacity, and invest in high-intensity computing infrastructure. The European Artificial Intelligence Board, established under the AI Act, plays a central role in ensuring the consistent implementation of these strategies, facilitating cooperation between the Union and Member States to achieve the Digital Decade's goals. The proposal explicitly states that it "helps advance all four Digital Decade policy programme cardinal points, notably by establishing concrete measures centred on developing innovative AI-enabling technologies, deploying expanded compute capacity, and creating a trust framework for enhanced use of cloud and AI."

What this means for you

For public-sector procurement officers, policymakers, and business leaders, the alignment between CADA and the Digital Decade Policy Programme means that your activities are integral to achieving national and EU-wide digital targets.

  • Procurement Alignment: When procuring cloud computing services, you must consider the Union assurance levels defined in CADA (Article 30). This ensures that your purchases contribute to the Digital Decade's goal of secure and sustainable digital infrastructures. Procuring services that meet higher assurance levels (2, 3, or 4) for activities contributing to public order is mandatory under CADA, ensuring that your organisation's digital transformation is resilient and sovereign.
  • National Strategy Integration: Your national cloud and AI strategy, required under Article 7, should explicitly reference the Digital Decade targets. As a procurement officer or business leader, you should ensure that your plans support these national strategies, particularly in areas such as data centre capacity deployment and the adoption of AI technologies in strategic sectors.
  • Leveraging Support Structures: Utilise the Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI (Article 5) to support your organisation's digital transformation. These centres can provide expertise, testing, and skills support, helping your team to effectively adopt cloud and AI technologies in line with the Digital Decade's objectives.
  • Monitoring and Reporting: Be prepared to monitor and report on your procurement of innovative cloud computing services and AI systems, as required by Article 33. This data will contribute to the EU-wide monitoring of progress towards the Digital Decade targets, ensuring transparency and accountability in the use of public funds for digital transformation.

Common misconceptions

  • Misconception 1: CADA replaces the Digital Decade Policy Programme.
    • Reality: CADA does not replace the Digital Decade; it complements it. The Digital Decade remains the primary framework for setting and monitoring digital targets, while CADA provides the specific regulatory tools and measures to achieve those targets, particularly in cloud and AI infrastructure. The Commission explicitly states that CADA "complements the Digital Decade Policy Programme by leveraging the existing yearly monitoring exercise."
  • Misconception 2: The Digital Decade already contains measures for data centre deployment.
    • Reality: The Digital Decade focuses on monitoring and target-setting but does not include concrete support measures for the deployment of compute capacity or data centres. CADA fills this gap by introducing mechanisms such as data centre acceleration zones, single information points, and simplified permitting processes.
  • Misconception 3: Public sector procurement under CADA is optional for achieving Digital Decade goals.
    • Reality: Public sector procurement is a critical lever for achieving Digital Decade targets. CADA mandates specific procurement requirements for cloud computing services (Article 30), ensuring that public spending drives the adoption of secure, sovereign, and innovative technologies, directly contributing to the Digital Decade's objectives.
  • Misconception 4: CADA only addresses infrastructure, not skills or business transformation.
    • Reality: CADA advances all four cardinal points of the Digital Decade. It addresses skills through the Centres for AI (Article 5), business transformation through the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiatives (Articles 3–4), and public service digitalisation through the sovereignty framework and EuroCloud Federation.

Official sources

Related

This is general information about a draft EU regulation, not legal advice.