The time for European digital sovereignty has arrived
For decades, Brussels was aware that relying on U.S. technology was a strategic and economic risk, but there were always excuses to delay the change. Today, that prudence has become untenable: all it takes is a tweet from Donald Trump, the threat to “shut down” Starlink or a simple Microsoft bulletin to remind us who has the upper hand and the switch on our digital infrastructure.
Many European leaders have already experienced it firsthand: controlling technology is not just a question of economics, it is a question of power and security.
When you don’t control the hardware and software, things like this happen: Angela Merkel’s phone was tapped, US soldiers were spying from the US embassy in Berlin, and the NSA collected data on 500 million calls made in Europe every year.
Two decades later, Donald Trump threatens to “pull the plug” on the Starlink service that sustains Ukrainian defense, and Microsoft forces millions to upgrade to Windows 11 by lying about technical requirements that I will explain later.
Europe has been asleep for years putting up with these technological aggressions, but something is changing: Denmark migrates 150,000 PCs to Linux, Germany does the same for certain government departments and builds its sovereign cloud, and France creates its own cloud and launches alternative spy satellites.
It is the perfect answer to an uncomfortable question: why do we pay those who spy and blackmail us?
We forget too quickly. In 2013, Edward Snowden blew the lid off the ***Operation PRISM***Operation PRISM: Google, Apple and Microsoft handed over European data to the NSA like candy.
Only a year earlier,* German politicians* were spied on using submarine cables.
Then in 2021, the The Pegasus case revealed that even President Macron was hacked with Israeli software that exploited vulnerabilities in the software of his cell phones that the U.S. allegedly concealed.
Or the suspension of the ICC prosecutor’s email account by Trump’s executive order, abided by Microsoft in 2020, used: “kill switch” in cloud services, although Microsoft has also denied it.
These episodes show why technological dependence is not just a matter of price or performance: it involves political, industrial and even judicial sovereignty.
I’m sure Europe must think something like this: “We are a digital colony of those who claim to protect us”.
Today, Trump threatens to “cut off their intelligence or communications to Ukraine” if everything he is dictating is not done.
The Ukrainian war has evidenced the coercive power of a private operator with thousands of active satellites on the front line. Without Starlink - remember the unilateral “cut” that thwarted a Ukrainian naval attack - the data flow stops and the chain of command becomes blind. Hence the EU has fast-tracked IRIS², a constellation of 290 satellites that will provide secure government and civil broadband connectivity from 2027.
Do we need more signs?
Denmark is no longer waiting. This June, its Ministry of Finance announced the migration of all of its equipment to Linux and LibreOffice. This is not an experiment: 30 municipalities have already been using free software since 2018, saving 17 million euros in licenses.
Germany, through the state of Schleswig-Holstein, has announced plans to migrate approximately 30,000 government computers from Microsoft Windows to Linux and from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, with the aim of strengthening digital independence, reducing costs and improving security and privacy.
The French city of Lyon has also just decided to migrate from Windows to Linux, including OnlyOffice for office automation and PostgreSQL for database administration.
As can be seen, change has already begun. Gradually, the usual laggards will also join in: those who do not dare to make such reasonable decisions on their own initiative, and only act when a higher authority demands it.
The reasons pile up: “Windows 11 forced us to buy new hardware for no real reason.” Their “incompatible PC” campaign is smoke. I myself installed Windows 11 on my supposedly incompatible PC by skipping the TPM 2.0 check. It works perfectly.
Why are they blocking it then? The answer is simple: to sell us more software and new computers.
Let’s continue with examples of those who, as always, take the initiative: Germany and its Sovereign Cloud Stack: a 100% European government cloud that rejects Azure and AWS.
France has launched a capital injection in Eutelsat in order to increase its stake to almost 30%, thus strengthening its influence in the SpaceRISE consortium within the IRIS² program.
In the field of artificial intelligence, European initiatives such as LAION(Germany) and Mistral(France) continue to grow.
In parallel, tools such as DeepSeek have been blocked or investigated in different European countries (Italy, Germany, Netherlands…), due to data protection issues under the GDPR.
In contrast, ChatGPT does not face a blanket ban in the EU; although it did have a brief suspension in Italy for 2023 due to similar concerns.
As for Copilot with its Recall feature, Microsoft was spying on users by sending frequent screenshots to its servers, although it now offers it as an opt-in feature. opt-in feature on Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs, which are now stored locally encrypted. In reality, Microsoft always claimed it never did such a thing, although discussion of the privacy implications remains.
The danger of espionage through AI tools is more serious than it seems: employees with little awareness of the confidentiality of proprietary company information using these tools.
By using them to analyze texts or compose emails with sensitive information, this information can leave the boundaries of the organization and be processed in the cloud of third parties, greatly increasing the chances of it being compromised.
Does anyone want their accounting or military strategy in the hands of Musk or Nadella and thus the US or China?
Why such a rush with AI as well? Because a poorly configured AI, connected to SharePoint, S3 or Google Drive becomes, as a study by The Hacker News says, a fancy corporate keylogger.
Let’s see if migrating from Windows to Linux is so traumatic. Here comes the myth to debunk: “Linux is for geeks”.
Current distributions such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu are visual clones of Windows. You open a Start menu, you have your apps store and even the Excel LibreOffice opens .xlsx documents without errors.
The difference is in the invisible: zero forced updates, zero ads in the start menu and 60% less RAM consumption.
Do you have an old and slow Windows laptop?
Install any Linux distro (distribution) and it will revive.
You can also do the same by migrating from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice or OpenOffice and save a fortune over time. Of course, if you are an advanced Excel user with complex macros, you will notice limitations, but for 90% of people or companies, it is more than enough. Isn’t it absurd to pay 150€/year for Office if you only write invoices?
Microsoft plays dirty while it can. In June 2025, it “gave away” security patches for Windows 10… with a catch: it required enabling Copilot and sharing diagnostic data.
As reported by Ars Technica, it was a zombie resurrection to suck more data from its users before the final burial, i.e., I let you use Copilot in exchange for spying on you thoroughly.
Although many of us detest Trump’s energumen, I have to recognize that he is being Europe’s best ally to provoke this revolution, without him we would never have taken the step.
His recent threats to leave Europe defenseless if it does not pay 2% of GDP on defense, now already 5%, include an ominous wink: Starlink could shut down in conflicts. And that’s big talk, we’re talking about a lot of deaths associated with decisions like that.
We must become independent now: Is it too late? Yes. Is it difficult? More difficult. But the foundations are there:
- GAIA-X: The European cloud with nodes in France, Germany and Spain, or OVHcloud, which is growing by 9% year-on-year, driven by demand for sovereign solutions. And the fact is that more and more companies are reconsidering using AWS or Azure because of the risk of US trade retaliation.
- European Processor Initiative: RISC-V chips for supercomputers.
- IRIS2, OHB or Mynaric: European space alternative to maintain resilience, interconnectivity and services from satellites, as well as focus on laser communications.
Some will say that it is expensive, why would you develop something that already exists and that, besides, it costs less to buy it than to make it. But how much does it cost to be spied on or blocked from using it when you need it most?
Denmark saved 27 million in 3 years. Others fear commercial friction. But when your “partner” blackmails you with satellites and hacks your cell phone, the trust relationship is already damaged.
Europe has talent, money and now, urgency.
I do not wish this to be misconstrued as contempt for the United States; my position is, in fact, purely pragmatic. Any U.S. citizen informed about the above arguments would understand that, in the face of certain abuses, the natural response is action.
The current situation does not imply that Europe perceives the United States as an adversary rather than its most valuable ally; that premise is incorrect. Fortunately, the alliance will endure, despite the challenges that the incumbent president may generate.
In essence, the debate centers on digital sovereignty, freedom and security, fundamental rights that European citizens deserve to enjoy just like their U.S. counterparts.
I end with an uncomfortable confession: I am writing this on Windows and using MS Office Word but I am also sure that I am not going to renew any more Microsoft licenses. My regular PC has Linux and that’s where I keep the important stuff.
Trump has merely precipitated the inevitable: if Europe wants to continue to dictate its own rules - privacy as a fundamental right, competitive markets and democratic values - it must control the cables, the satellites, the cloud and the code that connects them.
The good news is that the pieces are already in place: migrating governments, a European satellite that will have nothing to envy Starlink, AI start-ups that speak French, German or Spanish, and a market of 450 million users ready to support the transformation.
Enough of living off other people’s technology. It is time for Europe to design, manufacture and protect its own, with security and privacy by design, for Europeans and for everyone who values their digital freedom.