In Europe, governments and institutions are moving to reduce their use of major U.S. digital services as they seek greater control over technology they rely on for work and communication. The push for what officials and analysts call “digital sovereignty” has gained attention as tensions between the United States and parts of Europe have raised fears that technology access could become a political lever, according to Associated Press reporting published Feb. 3.
France has taken the most explicit step: the government announced that 2.5 million civil servants will stop using video-conference tools from U.S. providers—including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and GoTo Meeting—by 2027, replacing them with Visio, a homegrown service. In the announcement, the French government framed the shift as a way to “put an end to the use of non-European solutions” and to “guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications” by relying on a “powerful and sovereign tool,” David Amiel, a civil service minister, said in a press release.
The French move fits a broader pattern described across several European countries, where officials have been looking for domestic or free alternatives and for ways to avoid being locked into proprietary systems. AP reported that bureaucrats in Germany have moved to free software for administrative work, while Austria’s military has used open-source office software to write reports after it dropped Microsoft Office.
The digital-sovereignty debate is tied not only to procurement choices but also to how European officials view risk in cloud-based systems. AP said concerns about data privacy and fears that Europe is not doing enough to keep up with U.S. and Chinese technology leadership are also driving the push, and that Washington and Brussels have wrestled for years over data transfer agreements after Edward Snowden’s revelations of U.S. cyber-snooping.
The Associated Press also reported that a decisive moment in Europe’s thinking came after the Trump administration sanctioned the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor, after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. AP said Microsoft then canceled Khan’s ICC email service, a move first reported by AP that led to fears of a “kill switch” in which major technology companies could cut off service. Microsoft said it kept in touch with the ICC “throughout the process” and that “At no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”
On the European side, Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s tech-sovereignty official, told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month that Europe’s reliance on others “can be weaponized against us.” She also said it was important that Europe not be dependent on one country or one company for “very critical fields” of the economy or society, AP reported, without naming specific countries or companies.
Microsoft President Brad Smith, meanwhile, has sought to stress interoperability and trust in trans-Atlantic ties. AP reported that Smith said in a Davos interview that “Europe is the American tech sector’s biggest market after the United States itself,” adding that “It all depends on trust. Trust requires dialogue.”
Beyond video conferencing, AP reported examples of governments adopting open-source software and services: Schleswig-Holstein migrated 44,000 employee inboxes from Microsoft to an open-source email program and switched from SharePoint to Nextcloud; the German Document Foundation said the Austrian military’s LibreOffice switch reflects “a growing demand for independence from single vendors.” In another example cited by AP, Digital Minister Dirk Schrödter said in an October announcement that Denmark aimed to “become independent of large tech companies and ensure digital sovereignty,” while Denmark’s and other European officials also discussed the risk of depending on a small number of foreign suppliers.
The overall movement, as described by AP, is supported by officials and analysts who argue that sovereign control over data, systems and communications can reduce both privacy risks and the leverage that comes from political disputes. Reuters polling details were not part of the AP report, but Nick Reiners, a senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group, told AP that the topic is gaining “political momentum” and that it feels like a “zeitgeist shift,” as Europe seeks to de-risk from U.S. technology amid a wider set of geopolitical and regulatory pressures.
The Associated Press said Zoom, Webex and GoTo Meeting did not respond to requests for comment, while Microsoft said it continues to “partner closely with the government in France” and that it remains focused on privacy, security and “digital trust for public institutions,” including by providing “greater choice” and “stronger data protection,” with data staying in Europe under European law.