🧠 Editorial

This week marks a shift. Away from the question of whether digital dependencies are problematic, towards the question of how long Europe can afford them. Whether in Strasbourg, Bern, or Berlin: It is becoming clear everywhere that Cloud, software, and digital infrastructure are no longer neutral tools, but instruments of power. Those who control them set the rules. Those who use them live with the consequences.

The good news: The problem is no longer discussed solely on a technical level. The bad news: The consequences are greater than many have been willing to admit.

🚨 Tech-News

Strasbourg Sends a Signal: The Era of US Dominance is Over

The EU Parliament has passed a report with a broad majority that redefines Europe’s technological sovereignty. At its core is a clear rejection of structural dependency on US tech giants and a call for a “Cloud and AI Development Act”. This is not another funding program but the establishment of European capacities in Cloud, AI, and Open Source.

The timing is no coincidence. In the US, there is open discussion about export controls for “critical software.” What falls under this remains deliberately vague – but the potential impacts are enormous. Microsoft 365, GitHub, Docker, AI models like ChatGPT or Claude: Europe’s digital basic supply today depends on software operated outside its own legal and influence sphere.

The report thus identifies the real problem: Cloud is no longer a neutral storage space, but part of geopolitical power projection. When operation, control, and development of key infrastructures lie with a few US companies subject to US law, every economic decision also becomes a political one.

The proposed consequences are clear: public procurement focusing on European providers, Open Source as a standard, publicly funded software under free licenses. This is not ideology but an attempt to secure governmental actionability.

Digital sovereignty does not begin with a law. But without political decisions like these, it remains an empty formula.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Digitaler-Befreiungsschlag-EU-Parlament-fordert-Losloesung-von-US-Tech-Riesen-11151163.html

France Takes Action: Farewell to Zoom and Microsoft Teams

France decides what many European administrations have only announced so far: By 2027, all authorities are to switch to the national video conferencing platform Visio. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other non-European solutions will thus be systematically replaced. This step is part of a clear strategy to reduce digital dependencies and regain control.

The French government openly states why this change is necessary: a fragmented tool landscape, increased security risks, rising license costs, and structural dependencies on external infrastructures. Video conferences have long been part of critical administrative processes – those who do not operate them themselves give up decision-making power.

Visio has already been piloted and will now be rolled out to up to 200,000 additional users, including financial administration, research institutions, and the Ministry of Defense. Hosting, operation, and AI functions remain entirely within the French ecosystem – from the Cloud to transcription to planned real-time subtitles.

France thus treats digital sovereignty not as an ideal but as a concrete infrastructure decision. The comfort of proprietary standards is consciously traded for control, transparency, and long-term actionability. This very step is still missing in many other European countries.

🔗 https://www.golem.de/news/digitale-souveraenitaet-frankreich-loest-sich-von-zoom-und-ms-teams-2601-2040xx.html

The US Intervenes in Switzerland’s Digital Sovereignty

What is currently happening in Switzerland is a lesson in power, dependency, and interest politics. Courts, cantons, and federal offices are beginning to exchange ideas about Open Source alternatives and sovereign IT architectures within the “Sovereign Digital Switzerland” network. Not a revolution, but a responsible inventory.

The reaction from the US follows a familiar pattern: lobbying pressure. A representative of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce publicly attacks the IT director of a Zurich court, accuses him of legal violations and politicization, and intervenes with authorities and parliaments. The message is clear: Those who question dependencies allegedly exceed their competencies.

Yet digital sovereignty is not an ideological battle term. It is the sober response to real risks: CLOUD Act, extraterritorial access, price dictates, forced migrations, kill-switch scenarios. Those who move state data to US Clouds give up control. Those who examine alternatives act dutifully.

Remarkable is not that corporations lobby. Remarkable is how openly they interfere in domestic decision-making processes. Switzerland thus exemplifies a European problem: As soon as dependencies are to be reduced, the counterpressure becomes loud, coordinated, and political.

Digital sovereignty does not arise from strategy papers. It arises from decisions – even when they are geopolitically uncomfortable.

🔗 https://www.republik.ch/2026/01/26/die-usa-lobbyieren-gegen-die-digitale-souveraenitaet-der-schweiz

BitLocker Shows What Digital Dependency Really Means

Microsoft’s disk encryption BitLocker is considered an enterprise standard. However, the current case in which Microsoft handed over recovery keys to the FBI shows the downside of this model. By default, BitLocker keys are stored in the Microsoft online account – and are thus not exclusively under the control of the users.

Technically, this is explainable. Politically, it is highly problematic. Encryption without sole key control is not a real security measure but a delegation of trust to a US corporation – and indirectly to US authorities. The CLOUD Act turns this delegation into a real access possibility.

Microsoft sells this design as comfort. Users should not lose their keys. But comfort here is not a neutral feature, but an architectural decision. It presupposes that external access is legitimate and accepted.

For administrations, courts, and critical infrastructures, this is particularly relevant. National data protection laws help little when keys lie outside one’s own legal sphere. Open Source alternatives like VeraCrypt are less convenient but verifiable, controllable, and escape precisely this access.

Microsoft does not act illegally. That is precisely the point. The system is built this way – and that is why it is problematic for public bodies in Europe.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Microsoft-gibt-BitLocker-Schluessel-an-Strafverfolgungsbehoerden-11152988.html

📅 Event Tips

Rack & Stack 2026 – The Conference for Sovereign IT Infrastructures

While many are still discussing Cloud strategies, Rack & Stack 2026 is aimed at those already in the midst of implementation – or those who want to get there. On April 21 and 22, 2026, in Nuremberg, the conference brings together IT decision-makers, architects, DevOps, and security teams who no longer want to outsource the control, compliance, and cost-effectiveness of their infrastructure.

Content-wise, it’s not about buzzwords, but real architectural questions: Cloud repatriation, migration from US hyperscalers to European providers or on-prem environments, multi-cloud portability, FinOps and GreenOps, data sovereignty, cyber resilience, and the impacts of European regulation like the Data Act, EUCS, and AI Act. Topics such as sovereign AI, Open Hardware, RISC-V, and hardware supply chain security will also be addressed in a practical manner.

The format is deliberately kept compact: Single track, 30-minute expert talks, plenty of room for discussion, and a joint networking dinner. All sessions will be recorded and made available to participants afterward – an invaluable benefit for teams who want to pass on or review content.

Rack & Stack positions itself as one of the few German-speaking events that does not negotiate digital sovereignty abstractly but understands it as a concrete infrastructure and governance task. Those seriously dealing with Cloud exit scenarios, sovereign software stacks, or regulatory resilient IT will find exactly the right conversations here.

Note: Discounted ticket prices apply until the end of January.

🔗 https://www.rackandstack.de (Ticket & Program Info)

🎧 Worth Listening

heute journal – The Podcast: Can Trump Shut Us Down Online?

The episode “Sanctioned Judges: Can Trump Shut Us Down Online?” impressively shows how vulnerable Europe’s digital infrastructure is. The occasion is US sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court, which immediately led to the revocation of access to Amazon, PayPal, Airbnb, and credit cards from Visa and Mastercard.

The discussion with Dennis-Kenji Kipker and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann makes it clear: Digital services have long been part of geopolitical power instruments. Those who no longer have access lose factual social participation.

The podcast is worth listening to because it does not negotiate digital sovereignty abstractly but based on concrete escalation scenarios.

🔗 https://www.zdfheute.de/video/heute-journal/heute-journal-podcast-folge-42-richter-sanktionen-usa-100.html

📚 Worth Reading

SPIEGEL Interview: Klingbeil on Trump, Greenland, and Europe’s Responsibility

Lars Klingbeil speaks unusually clearly about the political decoupling of the USA from Europe. Greenland, tariffs, security guarantees, and digital dependencies are not viewed in isolation but as part of a structural power conflict.

The interview avoids transatlantic nostalgia and instead names European responsibility. Leadership is no longer an option but a necessity – politically, economically, and digitally.

🔗 https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Interviews/2026/2026-01-24-spiegel.html

💬 LinkedIn Post of the Week

Europe First is Not an Affect – It is Overdue

Andreas Fischer does not argue against Trump but for Europe. His text shows where real power instruments lie: in digital taxes, the Euro, fiscal and military independence. Particularly strong is the thesis of “strategic indifference”: Sovereignty does not arise from outrage but from structures.

Dependency is not a law of nature. It is the result of political decisions – and can be ended.

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andreas-fischer-63929595_digitalsteuer-ramstein-vicenza-share-7421077783533076481-54fz

🌤️ Good News

BSI Strengthens Open Source Security Structurally

With the launch of the Open Source Circle (OSC), the BSI is taking institutional responsibility for the security of Open Source software and hardware for the first time. Together with communities and ZenDiS, security is not only discussed but practically improved.

This is not a symbol, but e