For whoever running an IT business in Europe, the European Union’s push for digital sovereignty that we have seen this days in multiple declarations has provoked a mix of excitement and caution. The idea is simple on paper and makes certain sense, as Europe wants to reduce its reliance on foreign tech giants like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and others by building a homegrown infrastructure ecosystem, sometimes referred to as the “EuroStack”.
The whole thing shows a vision of independence, resilience, and control over our own digital destiny, but the reality is far more complex than slogans and press releases. At its core, the initiative is about protecting Europe’s critical digital infrastructure. Governments and businesses alike are increasingly aware of the risks of having sensitive data, AI models, or cloud services controlled by foreign companies operating under laws beyond European jurisdiction. This is something we not only see in our continent but almost in any other regional group around the world.
For us citizens, this could mean stronger privacy protections, more control over our personal data, and a digital ecosystem that is more aligned with European values which are not always coincident with those in places like the US. For European tech companies, it opens the door to growth, innovation, and a chance to compete in areas traditionally dominated by American hyperscalers and mega companies. The EU is not talking about banning foreign services outright, but rather about setting standards, incentivizing local providers, and ensuring that critical systems meet rigorous compliance and security requirements.
Yet, as entrepreneurs, we can’t ignore the challenges because things like suddenly building an alternative to AWS or Google Cloud is not just a matter of ambition but a huge engineering and economic hurdle. These american platforms have unmatched scale, agility, and global reach, and trying to replicate that in Europe, considering also our typical delays in most decision making processes, risks slower innovation, higher costs, and potential fragmentation.
There is a real danger that instead of empowering European startups, the push for sovereignty could unintentionally create an ecosystem where our smaller new companies struggle to access the best tools, or where public sector projects become more expensive and harder to deploy.
Despite the risks, the opportunities could be also very interesting, because investing in EuroStack compatible platforms, open source infrastructure and our own AI models can position local companies as leaders in a future where data governance and compliance are non negotiable.
It can also allows Europe to shape standards that could influence global tech practices, and startups that embrace these regulations strategically may gain a competitive edge, not just within Europe, by offering services trusted by governments and multinational clients seeking for safety on legal uncertainties tied to foreign clouds.
From my perspective, the key is balance and not falling into over regulation processes that in Europe are quite common and can be counterproductive. Europe’s digital sovereignty is not a zero sum game. It’s about building capacity, ensuring resilience, and creating opportunities for innovation without at the same time isolating ourselves from the global and more estblished technology.
For European entrepreneurs, all this can be also a chance to rethink strategy, invest in interoperability and position our companies at the center of a new, more controlled, and potentially more sustainable tech ecosystem.
The next few years will be decisive to see what happens, as digital sovereignty initiatives could either catalyze a European tech renaissance or slow us down if executed poorly. As europeans living and building in this ecosystem, we should be optimistic but also vigilant. The challenge is to ensure that Europe’s push for control does not stifle the very innovation it seeks to protect. If we get it right, the so called EuroStack could become Europe’s most important tech export, not just a product, but a vision of independence and opportunity in the digital age.
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