Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
In the tech sector, Europeans no longer want to be naïve. They are increasingly willing to restrict access for American tech giants in certain strategic areas.
Why should Americans worry about the new EU tech sovereignty package?
“Today, we simply rely on non-EU providers for over 80 percent of our digital products, services and infrastructure. This is a huge problem for Europe’s security of supply – but it also has a massive impact on our economies.”
The EU needs a shift. That was the message delivered yesterday by the EU’s tech commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, when she unveiled the EU Tech Sovereignty Package.
The EU wants greater control over strategic digital technologies such as AI, cloud services and semiconductors, which are currently dominated by the US and China.
This dependence creates many problems. I’ll give you one very concrete and potentially dangerous example: the US government can compel US cloud companies to disclose data they store, even if that data is located in Europe. This directly affects the many public authorities across the EU that rely on American cloud services.
So what solution does the EU propose?
Essentially, a set of measures designed to reduce the influence of Google and other tech giants.
How can the EU do that? By introducing security criteria for cloud services in certain cases, which would give preference to EU-based providers.
American cloud service providers could be excluded from certain public procurement contracts because they would not meet the security criteria set by the EU.
This would only apply to strategically sensitive sectors — healthcare and security, for instance — but it is nevertheless a significant step that the Commission is committing to.
The commission also proposes a major shift towards open-source technologies in areas such as AI, cybersecurity and semiconductors.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of open source, it means that the source code of software is publicly available for anyone to inspect, use or modify.
In other words, developers can build on existing code and create their own solutions, creating opportunities for alternative providers.
So how does the EU intend to encourage this? By supporting open-source start-ups, investing in skills, and encouraging public administrations to include open-source criteria in their procurement processes.
This marks an inflection point in Europe’s digital history, according to Open Forum Europe, a think tank that promotes the use of open-source software across business, government and society.
The organisation argues that, unlike proprietary software, open-source software cannot simply be switched off or restricted by a foreign government or company. It therefore helps Europe avoid external points of dependency or control.
But there have also been critical reactions.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Google, Apple and Amazon, reacted negatively to the package yesterday.
The initiative is protectionist and will force users in the EU to rely on a much more limited selection of digital products, the association said.
In recent months, the US president has already accused the EU of discriminating against American technology companies such as Apple, Meta and Google, all of which have faced fines for violating EU rules.
So there is little doubt that the United States will push back again and seek to soften some of the legislative proposals before they are finally adopted.
