Translated from: OPINION. « Souveraineté numérique : l'Europe doit proposer une approche incisive et pragmatique », as published in La Tribune.
Europe has become a digital colony, dependent on American cloud giants. This dependence weakens its technological sovereignty and security. Yet the talent, innovation and solutions already exist on the continent. All that is missing is a strong industrial vision, ambitious public procurement and confidence in our own abilities to build European digital autonomy. By Cristina Caffara, Stefane Fermigier and Yann Lechelle(*)
For years, the damning figures have continued to confirm it: Europe has insidiously transformed itself into a ‘digital colony’. The worst thing is that this trend, far from reversing, is accelerating, fuelled by devastating systemic effects. Today, nearly 80% of our companies' spending on software and cloud services enriches American tech giants, resulting in an annual drain of capital and value estimated at more than €260 billion, according to a recent study by Cigref. Beyond this heavy economic toll, this subjugation exposes us to major risks: the extraterritorial application of foreign laws, such as the US Cloud Act or FISA decree, technological and commercial lock-in imposed by proprietary solutions, and strategic fragility in an uncertain world order. Believing that simply locating our data on European soil, using technologies we do not control, is a solution is an illusion. True digital sovereignty is above all technological, because ultimately, ‘code is law’.
However, this situation is neither inevitable nor the result of a supposed lack of European capacity. Europe is brimming with talent, innovation and companies ready to provide the technological foundations for its independence. Many fundamental digital technologies, from the World Wide Web to Python, virtualisation and the cloud, were developed on our continent. Everything we need to build this sovereignty exists in Europe: semiconductors, computing infrastructure, collaborative software, artificial intelligence applications, etc. The heart of the problem lies neither in a lack of know-how nor in the supposed inferiority of our solutions. It is rooted in a lack of confidence in our own strengths and in a vision that is sometimes too timid, which manifests itself in a fragmented offering and the absence of a resolute industrial policy capable of structuring a genuine market for our own capabilities at all levels of this “technology stack”.
Within the EuroStack collective, we are convinced that Europe can and must change this trajectory. Drawing on our expertise and our roots in the European economic fabric, and convinced that a paradigm shift is needed that goes beyond analysis to embrace a renewed ambition, we have developed concrete proposals based on a threefold but coherent ambition.
We call for decisive action to make public and private procurement the main driver of European technological development. The most powerful lever with the most immediate effect is public procurement and incentive mechanisms for the private sector. Based on clear and objective criteria for qualifying a solution as ‘European’ — taking into account, in particular, the location of the registered office, the location of research and development, effective capital control in Europe, and immunity from extraterritorial constraints — we call on our public administrations, at both national and European level, to commit to directing a significant and growing share of their digital investments towards these sovereign offers. Far from sterile protectionism, this approach constitutes an essential strategic rebalancing and in no way contradicts international trade agreements. By directing demand in this way, we will offer our companies the visibility and critical volumes they need to innovate, grow and compete on the global stage. We also propose to explore comparable incentives to guide private companies towards European suppliers, particularly for the management of their infrastructure and sensitive data.
Next, we must consolidate our technological offering through greater visibility, increased collaboration and a firm commitment to the principles of openness that underpin open source software, open standards, open data and open or shared artificial intelligence models. To ensure that European capabilities can respond effectively to this stimulated demand, we recommend several actions. The establishment of a ‘European Digital Capabilities Observatory’ will enable dynamic mapping of our strengths and available solutions, in order to inform both the judicious targeting of future investments and strategic choices in public and private demand. We also call for the active promotion of open standards and interoperability. Europe can draw on its open source ecosystem, historically and currently the most dynamic in the world, which offers a wealth of proven technological building blocks and comprehensive solutions. This considerable asset is our best ally in thwarting proprietary lock-in, ensuring transparency and stimulating collaborative innovation. It is also a vehicle for accelerated catch-up, as it breaks monopolies by creating positive externalities. By setting an example, particularly through public procurement that favours these open approaches, and by promoting the formation of consortia of European players — SMEs, mid-sized companies and large groups — capable of building integrated solutions from this thriving ecosystem, we will make the European offering more coherent and accessible, and intrinsically more competitive and resilient in the face of the monolithic platforms that dominate the market today.
Finally, we urge support for the emergence of our future champions through strategic and agile funding. While stimulating demand remains a priority, targeted financial support is still essential to address certain critical technological weaknesses and to support the rise of promising European players. To this end, we recommend, in particular, the creation of a ‘EuroStack Fund’: an agile investment instrument, operating in synergy with private capital to support our technological gems, from research to industrialisation. This fund, financed, for example, by reallocating existing budgets or a share of the fines imposed on digital giants, would have the clear mission of catalysing private investment and ensuring that strategic European innovations reach commercial maturity and are widely disseminated on the market.
Our approach is pragmatic: these proposals are inspired by proven industrial policies, the very ones that have enabled other powers to build their technological success. To adopt them with the necessary determination, leading nations such as France must make the strategic choice to put European ambition at the forefront, prioritising cohesion and joint action over national priorities alone. It is under these conditions that Europe can expect considerable benefits: the creation of hundreds of thousands of high value-added jobs, the retention of economic wealth on our soil, enhanced strategic autonomy in terms of security and resilience, and the effective deployment of its innovation capacity.
The time has come for courageous decisions that dare to challenge established dependencies and bet on our collective creative strength. European industry is mobilised, ready to invest and to collaborate closely with public authorities. Together, and only together, can we make Europe an autonomous and respected digital power, in control of its technological future and capable of defending its values on the geopolitical stage.
(*) Cristina Caffarra is an economist specialising in competition and digital platform regulation, and an honorary professor at University College London (UCL). Stefane Fermigier is a free software entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Abilian.com, and co-chair of the CNLL. Yann Lechelle is a tech entrepreneur, former CEO of Scaleway, and currently CEO of probabl.ai.