EUROPEAN UNION’S DIGITIZATION POLICY – ASSUMPTIONS AND DIGITAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF MEMBER STATES.

Purpose: The European Union is setting increasingly ambitious objectives for digitization, aiming to be a global leader. This involves assessing the level of digitization among EU member states and identifying the key challenges facing the EU, given the priorities established. Design/methodology/approach: An analysis of the level of digitization in EU countries was conducted using secondary data collected by the European Commission as part of its monitoring of digital policy with the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). This analysis included a descriptive evaluation of the overall index and its sub-indices. In addition, EU countries were grouped by similar levels of digital development through cluster analysis using Ward's method. Findings: The level of digitization within the EU is high. The leaders in the overall DESI ranking include Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands. However, the countries least advanced in developing a digital economy are Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. The study's results reveal clear geographical differences. The gap between the leading country and the one in the lowest position is significant. While all countries are advancing in the four dimensions monitoring digital transformation, the distance to the 2030 goals is still significant, even among the digitization leaders. A key area of challenge includes human capital with insufficient digital skills, as well as the digital transformation of SMEs. A hierarchical clustering search for similarities between countries showed that the clusters formed depend somewhat on their place in the DESI ranking. Countries with low levels of digitization, such as Romania and Bulgaria, have the strongest clustering. Leaders in the development of the digital economy also exhibit strong clustering. Research limitations/implications: By its very nature, this article has limitations, primarily arising from the complexity of the subject matter discussed and the restricted number of research methods utilized. These limitations are also due to changes in the DESI methodology, which complicates reference to statistics that have not been updated. In planning future research activities, a significant and intriguing direction will involve a detailed study of the dimensions of the DESI index. Practical implications: The digital transformation impacts citizens and businesses across all EU countries. This understanding lends cognitive value to the current progression of the EU's digital transformation, indicating key challenges in this field. Originality/value: This article employs an original DESI descriptive analysis approach, enriched by an examination of similarities between member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]