🎯Basically, the EU is spending money to strengthen its control over cloud services.
What Happened
The European Commission has announced a significant initiative to bolster the EU's digital sovereignty by awarding a cloud services tender worth up to €180 million over the next six years. This effort is designed to provide EU institutions and agencies access to sovereign cloud services from a group of Europe-based providers.
Who's Affected
Four vendors have been selected under this tender: Post Telecom, which will collaborate with CleverCloud and OVHcloud; STACKIT; and Scaleway, which secured contracts independently. Additionally, Proximus is involved through partnerships with S3NS (a joint venture of Thales and Google Cloud), Clarence, and Mistral.
What Data Was Exposed
While the specific data types involved in this tender have not been disclosed, the initiative emphasizes security, compliance with EU laws, and supply chain transparency. The selected providers must demonstrate limited influence from non-EU third parties over their technologies and services.
What You Should Do
Organizations looking to engage with these cloud services should ensure that their providers align with the EU's Cloud Sovereignty Framework, which evaluates sovereignty across various dimensions, including strategic, legal, operational, and environmental factors. Companies should also stay informed about updates to the Cloud Sovereignty Framework and new assessment criteria.
Next Steps
The European Commission plans to update the Cloud Sovereignty Framework with more detailed assessment criteria. This aligns with the preparation of a Tech Sovereignty package, which will include an Open Source strategy, a new Chips Act, and a roadmap for digitalization and AI in energy. These initiatives aim to define how sovereignty for cloud and AI services will be applied within the EU single market, promoting compliance with European standards and values.
🔒 Pro insight: This initiative reflects the EU's commitment to reducing dependency on foreign cloud providers, enhancing resilience in digital infrastructure.
