‘A matter of national survival’: European governments on how they’re accelerating digital sovereignty as geopolitical tensions ramp up

Digital sovereignty is a “matter of national survival,” a European minister has advised CNBC, as the continent scrambles to undo the dominance of U.S. digital companies in its infrastructure amid geopolitical tensions.

The area’s dependence on U.S. tech and navy safety has come into sharp focus, as its relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration has deteriorated amid challenges from China and Russia.

Trump alarmed Europe by imposing tariffs final yr after returning to the White Home. This yr, he induced additional alarm along with his provocative refusal to rule out navy motion to accumulate Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, earlier than ultimately ruling it out.

U.S. cloud suppliers dominate the European market with an 85% share, in response to information from Synergy Analysis Group.

Critics warn that this dependency on non-sovereign suppliers is a threat amid studies of rising cyberattacks by Russia and rising geopolitical tensions with the U.S. administration. Below the 2018 Cloud Act, the nation’s regulation enforcement can request consumer information from American firms, regardless of the place the information is saved.

Estonia advised CNBC it was accelerating its “open-source first” precept as a result of of “heightened safety threats on Europe’s japanese flank.” Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine raised fears it may goal the Baltic states, together with Estonia.

“This has made digital sovereignty a matter of national survival, not simply IT coverage,” Liisa Pakosta, the nation’s minister of justice and digital affairs, stated.

Different European governments advised CNBC how they had been exploring homegrown and open-source alternate options to U.S. tech platforms and upping budgets for digital sovereignty.

“Strengthening digital sovereignty is one of the central targets” of the present German authorities, a spokesperson for its federal ministry for digital transformation and authorities modernization advised CNBC, pointing to “geopolitical developments” of latest years.

“The present scenario is characterised by excessive volatility and ongoing conflicts,” they stated, including that multilateral constructions are being known as into query by “strained” relations between the U.S. and Europe.

However Amazon, Microsoft and Google management greater than 70% of the cloud market within the area, with U.S. firms holding at the least 59% of the enterprise software program market. 

In January, France introduced it might roll out Visio — a video conferencing software developed by the federal government — which it stated can be obtainable to all state companies by 2027, in place of U.S. instruments like Microsoft Groups and Zoom.

The identical month, the EU stated it confronted a “vital drawback of dependence on non-EU international locations within the digital sphere…probably creating vulnerabilities, together with in essential sectors.”

The Belgian federal administration is “reassessing its dependencies within the digital area, beginning with essentially the most essential areas,” a spokesperson for the minister for digitalization advised CNBC.

“On this context, a Belgian cloud computing technique for the federal administration is being examined, alongside an evaluation of the federal information heart panorama,” they added. “This strategy goals to deal with points associated to information sovereignty, resilience, and safety, together with the storage of essentially the most delicate information.”

Quite a few European nations have stated they’ve been subjected to Russian state-sponsored cyber assaults lately. The EU stated it had noticed a “deliberate and systematic sample of malicious behaviour attributed to Russia,” in a press release in July.

Estonia’s Pakosta stated: “Whereas we worth our technological partnerships, relying solely on closed, proprietary ‘black field’ options creates a strategic vulnerability.”

“Open supply ensures that even when world connections are severed or exterior vendor insurance policies change, we retain full management over the code and might preserve the Estonian digital state operating domestically,” she added.

The nation is rising investments in strengthening sovereign digital capabilities in its 2026 state finances, Pakosta added.

Open-source alternate options to U.S. tech methods are more and more being explored by European governments.

Denmark stated it might launch a pilot of an open-source different to Microsoft Workplace for some authorities staff in June. “An excessive amount of public digital infrastructure is presently tied up with only a few overseas suppliers,” Minister for Digital Affairs Caroline Stage Olsen stated in a translated LinkedIn put up on the time. “This makes us weak.”

However a spokesperson for the division performed down the transfer when approached by CNBC. Describing the pilot as “minor”, they added it was supposed to “enhance our understanding of different applied sciences” and that no choice to maneuver away from Microsoft and Home windows had been made.

In November, all 27 European Union member states signed a declaration stating their “shared ambition to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty” and cut back “strategic dependencies.”

Spending on sovereign cloud infrastructure-as-a-service platforms in European international locations will greater than triple to $23 billion in Europe in 2027, in comparison with 2025 ranges, a latest report by analysis agency Gartner predicted — a a lot larger enhance than in North America and China.

“As geopolitical tensions rise, organisations outdoors the US and China are investing extra in sovereign cloud IaaS to realize digital and technological independence,” stated Rene Buest, senior director analyst at Gartner.

“Governments will stay the principle consumers to satisfy digital sovereignty wants, adopted by regulated industries and demanding infrastructure organisations, such as power and utilities and telecommunications,” he added.

U.S. tech platforms aren’t going to vanish from Europe any time quickly. Of their feedback to CNBC, many European international locations emphasised they had been nonetheless eager to proceed working with American tech firms for sure points of their digital infrastructure.

“We recognise and worth the longstanding function that U.S. expertise firms have performed in Europe’s digital transformation,” stated Estonia’s Pakosta. “American hyperscalers are vital and trusted companions within the European cloud ecosystem.”

Even when they needed to totally take away U.S. digital methods from Europe’s tech infrastructure, it might be unlikely to occur anytime quickly.

“With a purpose to be a number one participant, it’s important to be regularly investing massive quantities in analysis, service improvement, technical infrastructure, buyer assist and channel companions,” John Dinsdale, Synergy Analysis Group’s chief analyst, advised CNBC.

“It is going to be extremely tough for European cloud suppliers to meaningfully reverse the market share development,” he added.