Several governments and public institutions in Europe are accelerating the process of reducing dependence on large American technology companies, amid political tensions between the European Union and President Donald Trump’s administration, as well as concerns about data security and digital sovereignty.
According to an analysis published by WIRED magazine, numerous public administrations, non-governmental organizations, universities and European companies have started to replace services offered by giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon or GitHub with alternatives developed in Europe or with open-source solutions.
One of the most recent examples comes from the European Commission itself, which launched a long-term plan to reduce dependence on American technology. At the same time, the European Parliament changed the default search engine on its devices, ditching Google in favor of the French platform Qwant.
In France, thousands of civil servants already use LaSuite, an open-source office suite developed at national level. Also, a group of over ten European companies is preparing the launch of Euro-Office, an alternative to the productivity suites that dominate the market.
The changes are not limited to desktop applications. The Dutch government is moving its code repositories from GitHub to its own infrastructures, and several European institutions are considering abandoning the cloud services offered by Amazon Web Services.
According to experts, the reasons behind this change include the fear that European data can be accessed under US law, the dependence on a small number of suppliers and the closeness of the big technology companies and the administration in Washington.
“Citizens, companies and organizations are increasingly motivated to take control of their digital future”said Marietje Schaake, former MEP and research associate at Stanford University.
However, experts warn that complete detachment from American technology is unlikely in the near future. A European Parliament report shows that US firms continue to dominate key areas such as cloud services, artificial intelligence, cyber security and operating systems.
Even so, the trend is considered one of the most important changes in European digital policy in recent years, and more and more institutions are moving from discussions to concrete measures to strengthen the continent’s technological independence.
