Finally, the reviewed sample also includes two quantitative studies [Ivanović-Đukić, Stevanović and Rađenović 2019; Stavytskyy, Kharlamova and Stoica 2019] whose goal was to understand the role of digitalization as mediator or dependent variable. Ivanović-Đukić, Stevanović and Rađenović [2019] investigated the influence of digitalization on the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth in 21 EU states and found that the level of digitalization has a different role for different types of innovative entrepreneurship. Stavytskyy, Kharlamova and Stoica [2019] extended the analysis to all 28 EU member states (years 2014-2018) focusing on antecedents of digitalization. Interestingly, the authors found that a higher level of economic development of the country leads to an increase in the digitalization of the country and that the level of the country’s digital development is determined primarily by its previous development. From a methodological perspective, consistent with their objectives, all studies in groups two and three tend to rely on a theory-testing approach and adopted a number of inferential statistical methods to test relations among variables that include, among others, structural equation modelling [e.g., Noja et al. 2022], least squares [e.g., Elmassah and Hassanein 2022], and a variety of regression models [e.g., Moreno-Llamas, García-Mayor and De la Cruz-Sánchez 2020]. ¶{p. 191}

This brief literature review clearly shows that little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on digitalization in EU countries, with the most recent data yet to undergo research analysis. Moreover, within the EU, no studies have yet analysed the role of EuroMed countries in boosting the competitiveness of the Mediterranean region as a whole through the digital development of their economic and social activities.

In exploring the main trends regarding digitalization in EuroMed countries, a comparative lens and a longitudinal approach were adopted. The units of analysis are the nine Mediterranean countries making up the informal group called «EuroMed 9», namely Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Croatia. Data about various aspects of digitalization of the above countries were produced and made publicly available by the European Commission in 2022.

These data measure the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and were collected for the years 2017, 2020 and 2022. Descriptive statistics in the form of bar histograms and box plots were elaborated starting from primary data. Referring to table 1, comparative analysis across EuroMed countries and through time was carried out for the following dimensions and indicators: 1) the overall DESI, as an aggregation of its four main dimensions (i.e., human capital, connectivity, integration of digital technology and digital public services) measured with the same weight (25 per cent); 2) each of the four main dimensions of the index; 3) a number of selected indicators related to each main dimension (reported in bold in table 1 for convenience).

In order to support the interpretation of descriptive statistics and help explain the patterns and trends and the digital imbalance among the analysed countries, qualitative data about each country were drawn up by critically examining national digital strategies, laws, government portals and specific DESI country reports produced by the European Commission.¶{p. 192}

To date, digitalization in the EuroMed countries is uneven, since its configuration depends on specific conditions and factors of each region such as available resources, comparative advantages, population size, the scale of the economy and areas of specialisation. In all the figures below, in the second box on the right, the «solid» segment (label on the left) represents the mean value of only the countries in the Med area, while the «dashed» segment (label on the right) represents the mean value calculated for the entire Eurozone.

Figure 1 shows the trend of the Digital Economy and Society Index for the years 2017, 2020 and 2022, in order to understand whether the behaviour of governments, businesses and citizens residing in the Med countries considered has gradually converged towards greater digitalization.

It emerges from the figure that Malta and Spain have the highest index (respectively 60.9 and 60.8). In the same year (2022), Slovenia (53.4) and France (53.3) are positioned close to the European mean (52.5), while Portugal (50.8), Italy (49.3), Cyprus (48.4) and Croatia (47.5) are slightly below the EU mean. Greece (38.9), on the other hand, ranks bottom among the nine Med countries examined. Compared to the previous surveys that took place in 2017 and 2020, all the countries considered showed a positive and fairly similar growth rate towards the greater diffusion of digitalization. This suggests that despite the uneven level of digitalization, there are signs of convergence among EuroMed countries, as evidenced by the reduction of the variability in the boxplot over time: this is markedly lower in the years 2020 and 2022 with the exception of Greece, which appears to be an outlier.

As shown clearly by table 2, all countries witnessed an increase in their overall DESI from 2017 to 2022; however, in 2022 only Malta and Spain were significantly above the EU average. This means that the two countries, as a whole, made sizeable investments in digital infrastructures, disseminated digital knowledge among the population, and saw digital technological solutions circulate between businesses and families. Malta confirmed its ranking ¶{p. 193}from 2021 to 2022, being 6th among EU countries. This excellent position can be explained by the significant investments made over the last five years within the Digital Malta Strategy 2014-2020 on the development and deployment of digital technologies, such as AI and blockchain, with the launch of the first regulatory framework on blockchain in 2018 and its AI Strategy in 2019. Table 2 also shows that Malta made good relative progress as regards the overall level of digitalization of its economy and society, and has maintained a comparatively high ranking within the EU over the last five years.