Finally, they say, there should be taxpayer-funded investments in cloud and AI infrastructure and support for the European development of key components such as memory and chips and the incorporation of strict environmental sustainability requirements.
“It’s important to realize that the proposal is not just about the technical aspects but the non-technical ones as well — factors like territorial laws,” said Axel Laniez, head of public affairs at Clever Cloud, one of the letter’s signatories,
It’s a bold initiative but other European companies are already expressing concern that over-zealous application of sovereignty rules could have negative effects on European businesses as they struggle to replace existing suppliers.
The move is in line with CISPE’s efforts to strengthen the European cloud market: Last year CISPE won concessions from Microsoft in its drive to help European providers, and the organization is very keen to provide more opportunities for European businesses.
Barriers
However, there are real barriers to overcome. “US hyperscalers account for roughly two-thirds of the EU cloud market. The gap is both economic and a real dependency risk” said Zbyněk Sopuch, CTO of Czech security company Safetica.
“I don’t think the most protectionist version of this legislation will pass. Any measure that significantly restricts market access would require broad alignment across EU member states on how far digital sovereignty should go — and that alignment is not there,” he added.
