A coalition of European tech companies urges the EU to become less dependent on foreign infrastructure.
In an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen and Digital Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, European tech companies with more than 80 signatures from 100 organizations press for a change in strategy.
Europe Digitally Independent
TechCrunch was able to review the letter and reports that the companies are calling on the Commission to put its technology strategy on a quasi-war footing by supporting a “sovereign digital infrastructure”. In other words, Europe needs to become less dependent on foreign digital infrastructure. This strategy is called Euro Stack.
The idea of digital autonomy is not new. It was reignited after the events in Ukraine, where crucial digital infrastructure was suddenly cut off by foreign companies. Wolfgang Oels, COO of Ecosia, put it this way:
“Imagine a Europe without internet search engines, email or office software. It would completely disrupt society. Sounds unrealistic? But something similar happened in Ukraine.”
Additionally, JD Vance, the American Vice President, recently pointed out that European regulations pose a threat to American technology. Many European companies interpreted this as a warning: those who do not cooperate with digital infrastructure as America envisions it, can (and will) be excluded.
More Investment, Less Regulation
One of the solutions is to give European governments and companies priority to technology from their own region, similar to the American “Buy American” policy. The EU should invest in sectors such as cloud infrastructure, AI, and chip production. This can be done through a special investment fund aimed at strengthening Europe’s digital autonomy.
Within the European tech sector, criticism of current EU policy is growing. The policy is said to put too much emphasis on regulation and too little on investment. Cristina Caffarra, one of the proponents of the Euro Stack proposal, emphasizes in her paper that Europe needs an industrial strategy that not only sets market rules but also actively supports and protects companies.
read also
Paris AI summit: ‘Europe must invest in own AI technology’
Another supporter is Johan Christenson, CEO of cloud provider Cleura, who believes that the EU should set up a similar initiative to Airbus. With that, Europe previously put its own aviation industry on the map. But then something similar in the digital world. Andy Yen, founder of Proton, says: “Solving this demand problem can be done most easily by requiring the European public sector to buy European, thus creating the impetus for the development of the European technology sector.”
In the coming months, Europe will have to take steps. If this doesn’t happen, Europe may fall further behind in the global digital economy. The choice is clear: either Europe becomes an effective player in technology, or it remains dependent on foreign infrastructure and companies operating based on politics outside European borders.