EU-only ops, German subsidiaries, and a pinky promise your data won't end up in Uncle Sam's hands Amid continued trade and geopolitical volatility between Europe and the US, Amazon Web Services is making its European Sovereign Cloud generally available today and plans to expand so-called Local Zones. Amazon says the cloud is "entirely located within the EU, and physically and logically separate from other AWS Regions." It will initially offer 90 services from compute to datab

In 2025, the Trump administration’s open hostility to the EU and close connections with tech CEOs brought long-simmering transatlantic tensions over how to regulate Big Tech to a boil.  The effect so far has been to accelerate the EU’s quest to break its dependence on Silicon Valley and China. Washington’s combative posture toward EU tech regulation sets the stage for more conflict that could imperil the $1.5-trillion trading relationship. Table of contents Defining the terms

The European Digital Summit in Berlin in November 2025 marked a decisive shift in Europe’s approach to digital governance. Convened by Germany and France, the Summit signaled that Europe is moving beyond its decade-long identity as the global benchmark for digital regulation. The shift is industrial and security-driven: 80 percent of Europe’s digital infrastructure relies on non-European providers, creating a strategic dependence governments can no longer ignore. German Cha

Is the European Union moving toward a principle of sovereignty in the digital sphere? Several recent decisions point to the EU seeking to reduce dependencies on China and reaffirm its regulatory autonomy challenged by the current United States administration. Heavy lifting remains to be done: taboos surrounding European preference, divisions over cloud security, tests of resolve in a number of competition and platform liability-related cases. The instruments for an ambitious

If your company must comply with the GDPR, you also need to understand the U.S. CLOUD Act. Passed in 2018, it lets U.S. authorities demand data from U.S.-based providers, even when that data is stored in the EU. This directly contradicts GDPR Article 48, which states that foreign authorities require an international agreement to access EU data. For EU businesses using U.S. cloud providers, this creates a real compliance dilemma: following one law can mean breaking the other.

UK digital rights campaigners have urged UK parliamentarians to implement a digital sovereignty strategy as part of the forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to reduce reliance on technology subject to foreign interference The Open Rights Group (ORG) is calling on the UK government to implement a digital sovereignty strategy, arguing there is a pressing need to reduce the country’s dependence on technological infrastructure from US companies that may be subject to fo

The Global South has entered a new state of vulnerability: algorithmic neo-colonialism. While global superpowers continue to negotiate trade wars over technology, the rest of the world has quietly entered a new state of systemic vulnerability: algorithmic neo-colonialism. On the whole, the countries of the Global South are not sovereign participants in this new digital trade war. Rather, they have become a source of critical raw materials for the biggest technology companies

Lawmakers look to tie open source development with digital sovereignty and competitiveness concerns he European Union (EU) is set to examine the open source space in its latest bid to take on U.S. tech dominance. A call for evidence looks to obtain insights into open-source software and how nurturing European open source developers could help reduce the EU’s dependencies on American technology firms. “The EU faces a significant problem of dependence on non-EU countries in t

How data locality and metro-edge data centers fuel Europe's AI future AI has become the driving force behind Europe’s digital ambitions. Across industries, from healthcare and manufacturing to finance , energy, retail, and logistics, organizations are racing to deploy new models, automate processes, and secure a competitive edge. Yet a critical challenge persists: many are trying to build advanced AI systems on infrastructures that don’t meet the requirements of these comple

Among the many challenges that the European Union is currently facing, one of significant importance is strengthening Europe’s role within the digital ecosystem. Its ability to establish itself as a global geopolitical actor in this domain will have decisive implications for the continent’s economic potential and security, in all its various dimensions. The ‘Declaration for European Digital Sovereignty’ This premise should already provide a meaningful indication of the poten

European nations like Switzerland, Germany, and France, are increasingly adopting Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to enhance digital sovereignty, security, and innovation. Switzerland’s legislation just mandated government-developed software to be open source, while Germany and France have made similar moves to reduce reliance on foreign tech providers. The EU supports this shift through initiatives like the Free and Open Source Software Auditing (FOSSA) project, promoti

Early 2025, Big Tech hyperscalers in the US started to ramp up their public relations efforts in Europe, aggressively promoting “sovereign cloud” offerings. Their goal was to calm growing fears around US surveillance, fueled by legal uncertainty, the Trump presidency, and widespread concern about European autonomy in the digital realm. Microsoft launched its “European Cloud Principles”, later renamed “European Digital Sovereignty Commitments”, promising to build trust through

The Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium has been officially launched in The Hague, with the Commission welcoming the initiative having strong potential to strengthen European digital sovereignty. DG Connect’s Director for Future Networks, Thibaut Kleiner, represented the Commission during the launch event.  The DC EDIC represents a significant step in Europe’s efforts to strengthen digital sovereignty by coordinating national efforts to develop open, in

Microsoft has admitted that it can't protect EU data from U.S. snooping. In sworn testimony before a French Senate inquiry into the role of public procurement in promoting digital sovereignty, Anton Carniaux, Microsoft France's director of public and legal affairs, was asked whether he could guarantee that French citizen data would never be transmitted to U.S. authorities without explicit French authorization. And, he replied, "No, I cannot guarantee it." He said that the co

The use of artificial intelligence in the EU is regulated by the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law. Find out how it protects you. Table of contents AI regulation in Europe: the first comprehensive framework What Parliament wanted in AI legislation AI Act: different rules for different risk levels Transparency requirements Encouraging AI innovation and start-ups in Europe Implementation EU AI Act compliance timeline More on the EU’s digital measures As part of its

Explore Europe’s sovereign cloud movement — key providers, adoption challenges, and how EU initiatives like Gaia-X and Virtuora drive digital sovereignty and compliance. Europe is determined to take charge of its digital destiny. The EU sovereign cloud movement is central to this mission — ensuring that data, workloads, and operations remain under European technical and legal control. It is a vital part of the broader EU digital sovereignty agenda . Cloud sovereignty goes bey

Trump administration 'has made the call for tech sovereignty an urgent geopolitical issue' Not content to wait for open letters to influence the European Commission, Dutch parliamentarians have taken matters into their own hands by passing eight motions urging the government to ditch US-made tech for homegrown alternatives. The motions were submitted  and all passed last year during a discussion in the Netherlands' House of Representatives on concerns about government data be

As Ukraine explores alternatives to SpaceX's Starlink, the potential adoption of Eutelsat OneWeb's satellite network raises critical questions about connectivity, resilience, and strategic autonomy. As tensions between Ukraine and its international partners escalate, the potential replacement of SpaceX’s Starlink with Eutelsat OneWeb’s satellite constellation has emerged as a critical geopolitical and technological challenge. With approximately 42,000 Starlink terminals curre

In the age of Cloud computing, the concept of Cloud sovereignty has become increasingly vital for organizations seeking to harness the power of the Cloud while retaining control over their data and operations. This blog post explores the multifaceted aspects of Cloud sovereignty, including its definition, key areas, benefits, challenges, best practices, and how Cloud Sovereignty Partners can help organizations navigate this complex terrain. Cloud sovereignty can be defined as