Europe bids for digital sovereignty amid Russia threats, Trump

A European minister told CNBC that digital sovereignty is a “matter of national survival,” as the continent scrambles To undo the dominance of American digital services In its infrastructure amid geopolitical tensions.

The region’s dependence on technology and the US military The issue of protectionism has become a subject of great interest, as its relationship with the administration of President Donald Trump has deteriorated amid challenges from China and Russia.

Trump has worried Europe Imposing tariffs Last year after returning to the White House. This year, Trump caused further upset by provocatively refusing to rule out military action to seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, before ultimately ruling it out.

The European market is dominated by US cloud providers with 85% shareAccording to Data from the Synergy Research Group.

Critics warn that this reliance on non-sovereign providers poses a risk amid reports of increasing cyberattacks by Russia and rising geopolitical tensions with the US administration. Under the Cloud Act of 2018, the country’s law enforcement authorities can request user data from US companies, regardless of where the data is stored.

In the same month, the E.U He said It faced “a major problem of dependence on non-EU countries in the digital sphere… which could create vulnerabilities, including in critical sectors.”

A spokesperson for the digitalization minister told CNBC that the Belgian federal administration is “reassessing its dependencies in the digital field, starting with the most important areas.”

“In this context, the Belgian cloud computing strategy of the Federal Administration is being studied, along with an analysis of the federal data center landscape,” they added. “This approach aims to address issues related to data sovereignty, resilience and security, including the storage of the most sensitive data.”

Several European countries have said they have been subjected to Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks in recent years. The European Union said it had observed “a deliberate and systematic pattern of malicious behavior attributed to Russia.” statement In July.

“While we value our technology partnerships, relying solely on closed and proprietary ‘black box’ solutions creates a strategic gap,” Estonia’s Pakosta said.

“Open source ensures that even if global communications are cut or external vendor policies change, we retain full control of the code and can keep the Estonian Digital State running locally,” she added.

Pacosta added that the country is working to increase investments in strengthening sovereign digital capabilities in its 2026 government budget.

European governments are increasingly exploring open source alternatives to US technology systems.

Denmark said it will launch a beta version of an open source alternative to Microsoft Office for some government employees in June. “Much of the public digital infrastructure is currently tied to very few foreign suppliers,” the Digital Affairs Minister said. Caroline Stege Olsen said in a translated post on LinkedIn at the time. “This makes us vulnerable.”

But a ministry spokesperson downplayed the move when contacted by CNBC. They described the pilot as “simple” and added that it aims to “increase our understanding of alternative technologies” and that no decision has been made to move away from Microsoft and Windows.