Europe faces a critical dependency on US cloud infrastructure, with 90% of its digital infrastructure controlled by American companies, according to competition expert Cristina Caffarra[1]. This vulnerability has spurred concrete action, with public institutions in Austria, Germany, France and the International Criminal Court moving away from US providers.
The core issue stems from the US CLOUD Act of 2018, which allows American authorities to access data held by US companies regardless of location, conflicting directly with EU privacy laws[1:1]. This creates an “irreconcilable legal conflict” since any contract between European customers and US cloud providers is subordinate to US federal law.
Several key developments highlight this shift:
- Austria’s Federal Ministry for Economy completed migration of 1,200 employees to European open-source platform Nextcloud[1:2]
- The International Criminal Court is replacing Microsoft office software with OpenDesk after its chief prosecutor was locked out of Outlook[1:3]
- Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state has moved 24,000 civil servants to open-source alternatives[1:4]
However, challenges remain. The acquisition of Dutch cloud provider Solvinity by US-based Kyndryl demonstrates how European alternatives can be undermined through foreign acquisition[1:5]. Critics also warn about “sovereignty washing,” where US hyperscalers market ‘sovereign cloud’ solutions that don’t resolve the fundamental legal conflicts[1:6].
Observation, entirely unrelated to this post… Always best to quickly remove a sticking plaster (bandaid) as quickly as possible. Especially when its not needed and covered in crud keeping the wound at risk.
I would much rather hear Dr. McCoy’s medical opinion if you don’t mind.
I think Europe needs to build it’s own infrastructure, with black jack and hookers! You know what, forget the infra!
So, Monaco but entire continent.
Less US dominance and more options are good even for countries that can’t develop their own alternatives.
Honestly, it’s even better for the USA.
It definitely seems like the smart move as far as I can tell. I assume building new infrastructure/software etc. would create a lot of jobs, plus it seems like a solid long-term investment in general, and it would probably help against hostile influences from outside. By which I mean mainly Russia but also increasingly the US too. Sorry, Americans but I also suspect that your troubles won’t end with Trump. I think the whole system needs flushing out TBH.
The core issue stems from the US CLOUD Act of 2018, which allows American authorities to access data held by US companies regardless of location
Tell me how the US is not what they blame China to be.
I’d be grateful if my university ditched MS Outlook as their mail provider and went back the the self-managed solution. Outlook is simply annoying as fuck.
Agree, it has no technical reasons for not having European sovereignty, only political, bureaucratic reasons, ignorance and commodity that prevent it. There are plenty of good and even better alternatives to US big brother crap.
I cannot even use the email client I choose without their “permission”. C’mon… And don’t even let me start about the fucking Teams…
Pretty hilarious that Deutsche Telekom spent buckets of money to integrate Google’s cloud into their network core. Never understood why they’d be so stupid, but here we are.
Company != government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Telekom
The German government owns 31.9% of Telekom.
Europe better invests in autonomy for survival reasons, the fragile balance of global inter-dependence is no more…
