European leaders are accelerating efforts to achieve digital sovereignty following Microsoft’s targeted shutdown of cloud services linked to U.S. sanctions. The incident, which affected the International Criminal Court, highlighted Europe’s heavy dependence on American cloud giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
Driven by concerns over data privacy, compliance with the EU’s GDPR, and geopolitical risks, the EU is investing in sovereign technologies. Initiatives like Gaia-X, SecNumCloud, and the upcoming EUCS certification aim to promote secure, European-based alternatives. Despite public support, adoption remains slow due to higher costs and performance concerns.
As U.S. laws such as the Cloud Act enable American authorities to access foreign data, the EU is calling for stricter regulations and increased funding to back local providers like OVHcloud and Scaleway. The shift is seen as critical to protecting European infrastructure, privacy, and strategic autonomy in an increasingly unstable global tech landscape.
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