An important group of European technology companies has sent an open letter to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of EU digital services, Henna Virkkunen, where they ask the legislative «Radical actions» to Strengthen Europe’s digital sovereigntyreducing the dependence on infrastructure and foreign property services to reinforce the economic perspectives, resilience and safety of the old continent.
The new tenant landing at the White House or what analysts call ‘Trump 2.0’, has caused some geopolitical times increasingly convulsiveat all levels. The imposition of tariffs is causing a commercial war of unpredictable consequences. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Another example of conflict that affects the technological field comes from the scope of security, with the potential replacement of Starlink operations in Ukraine. The great social network services, not only controlled by the US, but to the Trump service, are another great point of concern. Not to mention the management and storage of personal and professional data, and of everything that comes from AI.
Trump’s statements, the Musk shadow minister and vice president JD Vance, attacking Europe in an unknown way in decades, leave no doubt that the international order achieved after World War II is in ruins when it comes to the actions that the United States can undertake under the mandate of the current administration.
The digital sovereignty of Europe
A wide coalition formed by representatives of all sectors of the European technology industry (Airbus, Element, Ovhcloud, Murena, NextCloud, Proton, among others) believes that it is time to respond and prepare for what is to come and for this he is asking for European political command «Radical actions».
More than 80 signatories, representing about 100 organizations, want legislators to reconsider the current support efforts to promote the adoption of local alternatives with the greatest commercial potential, from applications, platforms and AI models to chips, computer science, storage and connectivity. And there are many others who have not signed the letter because the great American technological ones are also their clients.
This group of companies that cover areas such as Cloud, telecommunications, open source software or defensetogether with several regional business associations and emerging companies, they have signed a letter sent over the weekend to the commission on Sunday, urging the block to change its technological strategy to quasi -military environments, committing to support “A sovereign digital infrastructure”.
The plan seeks to reduce the dependence of large foreign property technology through the active promotion of the development of the so -called ‘Euro Stack’. The European digital infrastructure proposal does not arise out of nowhere and last January a complete report on the project with experts from several sectors, which details the strategy, was disclosed.
We have also seen comments on conferences about the possibility that European entrepreneurs take advantage favor local innovation.
It’s time to act
Strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty is essential. Current key technological infrastructure is owned by US companies and is operated by them. From a European perspective, if Trump can issue a presidential executive order that forces US companies to interrupt the provision of services or finish a feather supply chain, they cannot be reliable partners from a European perspective, as Wolfgang Oels, director of Operations of the Ecosia Search Engine:
«Imagine a Europe without internet searches, email or office software. It would mean the total collapse of our society. Does it sound unreal? Well, something similar has just happened in Ukraine ».
And Trump blocked access to vital infrastructure because Ukraine was not willing to yield their territories or deliver their minerals. «Europeans need sovereignty in critical infrastructure, and these not only include energy and health, but also, Without a doubt, the digital ones”. describe.
The letter of the coalition offers a first recipe for the European technology industry to act. It is combined with a hard warning about the dangers that the block continues as it is. Without urgent action to promote the demand for technologies manufactured in Europe, there is a risk that the control of the provision of critical digital infrastructure by external suppliers will be perpetue. «Europe will lose digital innovation and productivity growth without radical and urgent change»say the Euro Stack supporters.
Cloud computing, a great example
Cloud computing has hundreds of suppliers, but most only think about three: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which are known as the “hyperscalors” of the accommodation industry and are headded in in the United States.
The country led by Trump has privacy, security and regulations that concern many European companies and jurisdictions, especially in the current global situation. While the mentioned hyperscaling giants offer accommodation options in various global jurisdictions, What would happen if US politics stopped respecting these digital borders?
Europe has specialized suppliers as an alternative. Two of them – the French OVH (which houses about 4% of the websites) and the German Hetzner (around 5.5% of the websites) – exist since the late 1990s, before the web 2.0 revolution and that the term “cloud” was known. The third is the British Civo, with only seven years of existence, but whose founders have many more years of experience helping companies take their applications to the Internet.
Perhaps due to the anxiety to maintain valuable data in other territories, national pride or regulatory reasons, European companies are looking for alternatives to hyperscala hosts and their choice is an example in the search for Europe’s digital sovereignty. Changes are requested from the legislative in this and other technological sections.
First Europe
The open letter of the European technology industry also suggests that legislators could help stimulate demand and unlock investment adopting public procurement requirements which would require at least part of the digital requirements of public bodies from local suppliers. The model is also known as a “European Buy” mandate to favor «Solutions led and assembled by Europe».
“The European industry will invest if there are adequate demand perspectives”the authors of the letter say, adding that «Prioritizing areas where Europe can already offer results will be key to quickly transfer resources to European suppliers, creating value and market in a virtuous circle».
The objective is not to exclude non -European actors, but to create a space where European suppliers can compete legitimately (and justify investment). The argument is that, in a world where “United States first”, you can no longer count that the most powerful country in the world supports Europe, EU’s neutrality scholar (with respect to where it invests its resources) It looks like an idealistic relic of a more peaceful era.
Group, Federation, Infrastructure and Open Fund
Other recommendations established in the letter include adoption by the EU of measures to allow a “viable supply” by encouraging European technologists to adopt an approach to “Group and Federation”including the development of common standards, as a strategy to accelerate the expansion of local digital infrastructure.
When working together in aligned approaches, the objective is to increase the ability of European suppliers to compete against US hyperscators, as in the case of cloud computing. «This means returning to work with the industry to inventor resources quickly, support open source solutions and interoperability (both technically and commercially), integrate the best existing assets, support the incorporation with integration platforms and reduce compliance barriers, while complying with location and safety imperatives ».
Regarding financing, the letter asks the EU to create a “Sovereign Infrastructure Fund” to Support public investments in European digital infrastructureespecially in areas of the technological value chain with intensive use of capital, such as chips and quantum computing.
An such background would not require large amounts of money; Smaller amounts could be strategically allocated, for example, to the maintenance of open source infrastructure. «The open source community in Europe is huge and incredibly capable »they point out.
The need for digital sovereignty
Historically, the idea of thinking “first” has been taboo, belittled by academic. And while the impulse to give an example worldwide and play clean is admirable, He is naive and has left Europe at a disadvantage. «The United States and China have always prioritized the United States and China first; Europe must do the same »stand out.
The letter is an urgent call to Europe so that It agrees and works collectively in a joint digital industrial strategy with the objective of increasing local capacity by promoting the demand for fundamental technologies that European companies can already offer. This will encourage greater growth and innovation in the local technology industry, while helping the block to draw a course towards greater autonomy in critical digital infrastructure.
“To support Europe in this serious moment of crisis for our strategic safety and autonomy, the Commission must urgently form and convene work groups with the industry to transform its ambition of technological sovereignty into concrete actions”suggests the industrial coalition.
At the end of the letter a complete list of the signatories is included, summarized as practically the entire cloud, telecommunications, software or open European source, in addition to industrial giants such as Airbus and Defense such as Dassault Systèmes. More companies are expected to join as sponsors (including those of the European Ecosystem of AI) and set aside commercial interests that exist because competitors are their customers.
The objective deserves it and is urgent in a critical situation: The digital sovereignty of Europe.
