On Wednesday, the European Union will present a plan for the 27-member bloc to reduce its dependence on American and Asian technology companies and to give priority to European digital alternatives.
The plan could further worsen relations with the United States, which has reacted harshly to EU sanctions and regulations against American tech giants in recent years.
Over the past year, the bloc has stepped up its efforts to develop domestic production in various sectors and catch up with competitors from the US and China.
EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen will present a new package of “technological sovereignty” in Brussels, which includes rules on chips, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
The goal is to build digital systems that will enable Europe to control services and data and reduce the possibility of foreign influence.
Brussels is worried after crises in chip and rare minerals supply chains with China, as well as fears that US President Donald Trump could one day restrict access to US cloud services.
According to a draft strategy seen by AFP, the EU relies on foreign suppliers for more than 80 percent of its digital products, services and infrastructure.
The EU, however, claims that the goal is not to close the market, but to strengthen European industry and stay in the global race in the development of artificial intelligence.
Dominance of the American cloud
The cloud market in Europe is dominated by American platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, which together hold about 70 percent of the European market.
Brussels spends about 264 billion euros annually on American cloud services.
The EU plan also includes legislation on cloud computing and AI to encourage the construction of data centers, as well as the doubling or tripling of capacity over the next five to seven years.
It is also planned to strengthen European semiconductor production, greater use of open-source software in the public sector, and a common system for evaluating the sustainability of data centers.
Fear of addiction
Brussels also wants to introduce “digital sovereignty” criteria in public procurement and mandatory risk assessments to identify European suppliers where possible.
Part of the concern is also related to the US Cloud Act of 2018, which allows US authorities to access data held by US companies, regardless of where they are physically located.
However, some European officials say that the EU “should not give in to pressure” and that it has the right to set its own rules.
The European Commission previously announced plans to reserve some of the frequencies for satellite communications that are now used by American operators for European companies.
The move reflects a wider shift in EU policy – away from regulating big tech companies to actively favoring European technology in strategic sectors such as chips, cloud and AI.
(Vijesti.ba)
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