EU moves to reduce reliance on US technology

On January 22, the European Parliament voted to adopt a report directing the European Commission to identify areas where the European Union can reduce its reliance on foreign providers. The vote was non-binding—meaning it does not create a legal obligation—but it signals a growing push across Europe to reclaim digital sovereignty, which is the ability of a nation or bloc to control its own digital infrastructure and data. According to parliamentarians, the European Union and its 27 member states currently rely on non-EU countries for more than 80% of its digital products, services, and infrastructure.

This policy shift is driven by concerns over the Trump administration, which the source characterized as increasingly unpredictable and vindictive. A key catalyst is the U.S. sanctioning of Kimberly Prost, a judge on the International Criminal Court. In 2020, the court’s appeals chamber authorized an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In response, the Trump administration placed Prost on its economic sanctions list. Prost, whose name now shares the same list as some of the world’s most dangerous people, from terrorists to North Korean hackers and Iranian spies, described the effect of the sanctions on her life as “paralyzing” in an interview.

Individual European nations are already taking concrete steps to replace U.S. providers. According to David Amiel, the French minister for civil service and state reform, the French government will replace Zoom and Microsoft Teams with its own domestically made video conferencing software, Visio. Meanwhile, Belgium’s cybersecurity chief Miguel De Bruycker warned that Europe has lost the internet to U.S. dominance and that it is currently impossible to store data fully in Europe. These concerns over digital sovereignty are not new. They date back to 2001 when the U.S. introduced the Patriot Act, expanding surveillance powers. In 2011, Microsoft conceded it could be compelled to hand over Europeans’ data to the U.S. government, a vulnerability later confirmed in 2013 through classified documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Why it matters

European lawmakers are moving to reclaim digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on U.S. technology following diplomatic escalations and the weaponization of sanctions by the Trump administration.