Europe pushes digital sovereignty as firms remain tied to US cloud giants

Germany and France plan to publish a joint definition of digital sovereignty by mid‑2026 and have pledged €12 billion in investments to boost European control over key technologies. Despite the political drive, a Lünendonk study shows three‑quarters of DACH companies cite digital sovereignty in strategy papers, yet only 14 % have a workable exit plan from foreign cloud services and merely 3 % can assess their actual level of independence.

A new interactive map created by researchers at Linz University highlights similar reliance at the municipal level in Austria, where 87 % of local email services run on non‑EU providers—predominantly Microsoft—while only 13 % rely solely on European or domestic providers. Germany shows a lower external share for email (20 %). The map reveals a wider European divide, with northern and western cities using more foreign cloud ecosystems and eastern municipalities favouring domestic hosting. Experts warn that growing dependence raises risks such as data access under the US Cloud Act and calls for stronger European alternatives.