It’s safe to say that the EU has a love-hate relationship with Silicon Valley tech firms (ok, it’s actually more like hate-hate). 

For several years, they have been trying to extract what they say is billions of dollars in back taxes owed from U.S. tech companies. The EU has also pursued antitrust actions against some of these firms, notably Google.

Now, instead of just prosecuting big tech, Europe is looking to compete with them. 

According to Reuters, the European Commission plans to create a single market for data, in the hopes of “pooling the region’s deep industrial expertise could help build technology powerhouses to catch up with Silicon Valley and state-backed Chinese heavyweights.”

Can cooperation enable the creation of tech companies in Europe to rival the global heavyweights? Only time will tell.