On March 14, 2025, over 90 European technology companies signed an open letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen. In the letter, companies such as Airbus, Dassault Systèmes, Siemens, OVHCloud, Murena, Nextcloud, and Proton, urged the European Union to take urgent measures to achieve digital sovereignty in response to the growing dependence on technological providers from China and the United States.
The signatories argue that without concrete and decisive actions, in less than three years Europe will become almost wholly dependent on non-European technologies in strategic sectors such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and chip manufacturing. To reverse this situation, they propose a series of steps aimed at encouraging investment in local technologies and ensuring that European companies can compete on an equal footing with the American and Chinese tech giants.
Geopolitical tensions have exposed the vulnerability of Europe in the digital realm. At the recent Munich Security Conference, the U.S. Vice President, JD Vance, strongly criticized Europe, making it clear that the administration of Donald Trump is willing to make unilateral decisions that could harm the bloc.
One of the letter’s signatories, Wolfgang Oels, Chief Operating Officer of Ecosia, warned of a worrying scenario: “Imagine a Europe without internet searches, email, or office software. It would mean the total collapse of our society. Does it sound unrealistic? Well, something similar just happened in Ukraine.”
Oels refers to the technological sanctions imposed on Ukraine by the U.S., which blocked access to vital digital services. A similar case in Europe would jeopardize its economy and security.
One of the central points of the letter is the establishment of a sovereign infrastructure fund aimed at boosting investment in key technologies for Europe’s digital autonomy. According to the signing companies, this fund should be supported by the European Commission and national governments, focusing on areas such as:
This fund would serve to finance strategic projects that require substantial initial investments and would help European tech companies expand their operations without needing foreign investments that might compromise their independence.
Additionally, the document notes that other powers like the United States and China have implemented aggressive investment policies in their own technologies. Europe, on the other hand, has largely relied on the private sector and trade agreements with external players, leading to a lack of competitiveness in the mentioned sectors.
Another standout proposal in the letter is the need to adopt a “buy European” policy in public tenders. This initiative does not seek to exclude non-European players but to ensure local companies have a competitive edge when offering their technological solutions to EU governments and institutions.
According to the signing companies, many European enterprises currently face barriers to competing with U.S. tech giants who have access to larger volumes of funding and can offer lower prices due to economies of scale. Implementing a local purchasing policy would stimulate the demand for European digital products and services, fostering investment in innovation and ensuring that economic benefits remain within the region.
Some of the benefits of implementing a pro-European purchasing policy would be the reduction of dependence on foreign suppliers, increased investment in research and development in Europe, and the strengthening of the European technology ecosystem, among others.
This strategy has already been applied in other sectors within the EU, such as the aeronautics industry and the energy sector, where projects funded with European funds must prioritize contracting companies from the continent.
The document also highlights the importance of developing a sovereign digital infrastructure that encompasses both physical and logical layers. This means Europe must work to ensure that its chips, data centers, digital platforms, and AI frameworks are controlled by European companies or, at least, subject to EU regulations.
Currently, much of the digital infrastructure used by European businesses and governments relies on foreign providers, which raises concerns regarding security, data privacy, and technological resilience. To tackle these challenges, the signing companies recommend encouraging the creation of European alternatives to tech giants, investing in the expansion of local data centers to reduce dependency on American cloud services, and developing European cybersecurity standards to protect critical infrastructure.
An example of this approach is the EuroStack project, an initiative that seeks to unify and strengthen Europe’s sovereign digital infrastructure. Its goal is to consolidate a competitive alternative to the American and Chinese tech giants in sectors like AI, chip manufacturing, cloud computing, and storage and connectivity infrastructure.
The report on EuroStack, published in January 2025 and co-authored by economist Cristina Caffarra, proposes that Europe adopts a coordinated approach to develop its own technological solutions. To this end, it suggests a model based on open standards and cooperation between companies to create a robust and scalable technological base.
The letter also warns that, although the EU has attempted to strengthen its digital sovereignty through regulations like the Digital Markets Act (DMA), these measures are not sufficient unless accompanied by real incentives for European companies.
According to Andy Yen, founder of Proton—a Swiss company specializing in internet privacy and security—the regulation alone will not solve the problem: “One year after the introduction of the DMA, nothing has substantially changed. The market share of the major tech companies in Europe remains the same. We need more radical measures,” Yen stated.
To foster local innovation, the signatories propose that the EU adopts financial incentives to encourage companies and startups to opt for European solutions. They also call for strengthening data storage regulations to prevent European companies from relying on foreign services and to promote open source and interoperability as the foundation of digital sovereignty.
Another strategy mentioned in the letter is adopting an “aggregation and federation” approach, where European companies collaborate to compete with the U.S. tech giants.
This would involve creating common standards and shared platforms, facilitating interoperability among different European providers and ensuring solutions are viable on a large scale.
One example of this strategy is the API specification SECA, recently launched to enable seamless cloud service integration among different European providers.
Photo: Grok
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