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After heavy criticism of the planned renewal of Microsoft licenses for authorities and municipalities in the Free State, common sense now seems to have prevailed in the Bavarian government. Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehring (Free Voters) announced the development of a “sovereign workplace”. The project should start in your own department. Mehring is referring to a resolution by the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) on the federal modernization agenda (PDF).
This means that the original plan, pushed forward by Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU), to centrally convert the entire state and local administration to Microsoft 365 for almost one billion euros, appears to have been shelved after months of quarrels.
“Independent of overseas companies”
“Digital sovereignty is a central question for the future of our state and its administration,” Mehring explains his mission in a statement. “Because digital infrastructure has long held the world together at its core, we have to make it crisis-proof. This includes making our authorities more independent of companies from overseas that could pull the proverbial plug on our administration.”
