The European Union normative power transformation and the digital sovereignty construction under the impact of new challenges

The purpose of the article is to determine whether the geopolitical positioning of the European Union (EU) and the discourse of "digital sovereignty" is a rejection of the EU normative project. The object of the study is the regulatory force of the EU. The subject of the study is the digital policy of the EU. The author examines the provisions of Jan Manners' theory of normative force and cites criticism of the theory by other researchers. Special attention is paid to the principles of the EU's regulatory force in digital policy. The legitimacy of the EU's regulatory power through role theory, the geopoliticization of the EU's digital policy and the impact of the geopolitical turn on the EU's regulatory power are also considered. The author studied the concept of "digital sovereignty" in the context of the normative power and compatibility of the geopolitical EU with the previous image. The discourse of the EU's "digital sovereignty" is analyzed as an attempt to activate a new international norm in contrast to the models of Internet regulation in China and the United States. Arguments are given in favor of the view that "digital sovereignty" is a new manifestation of the EU's regulatory power. The paper uses methods of theoretical research, namely: analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, induction, deduction and classification. The novelty of the research lies in the analysis of the regulatory power of the European Union in the context of regulating digital policy and creating new standards for managing the digital sphere. The author's contribution to the research of the topic is to consider the normative power of the EU through the prism of role theory and the manifestation of adaptability to external challenges. The novelty of the study is the analysis of "digital sovereignty" as a manifestation of the EU's regulatory power. The main conclusions of this study are: 1) The new geopolitical course of the EU in digital policy does not mean abandoning the EU regulatory project and changing the paradigm. The principles can take different forms to match the global situation, but the core in the form of European values remains unchanged and is used as a basis for creating regulatory legislation. 2) The use of the discourse of "digital sovereignty" and tougher rhetoric allow the EU to fit into the new geostrategic world and get the opportunity to continue exporting European values and standards. 3) "Digital sovereignty" is a discursive expression of the EU's unwillingness to take one of the extreme positions embodied in the approaches of the United States and China.

European union, Normative power, Digital policy, Digital sovereignty, Geopolitics, Brussels effect, Strategic competition, Discourse, European values, Regulation