Two of Denmark’s largest cities have rejected US cloud services. This initiative is part of a strategy by European governments to reduce their dependence on large US technology companies.
Henrik Appel Espersen, chairman of Copenhagen’s audit committee, stated to Politiken that the council decided to abandon Microsoft Office programs due to cost and the company’s “near-monopolistic” control, according to Euronews.
According to Espersen, the foreign policy of US President Donald Trump has made the problem “more relevant”.
Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest municipality, followed Copenhagen’s lead, replacing Microsoft technology with a German system.
Denmark has put into practice what has been discussed in the Netherlands. In a public debate, the Dutch parliament approved a series of motions earlier this year to build a digital cloud and reduce its dependence on US cloud technology.
European experts, speaking to Euronews, expressed concern that the Trump administration intends to force tech companies to supply Dutch data to the US or stop providing cloud services to Europe, which could cause major disruptions to public services.
According to a report by a group of Danish experts on tech giants published in December 2024, it is recommended that alternatives to large tech companies emerge and grow in Europe.
“No one should be forced to use the services of tech giants to obtain information and participate in social, cultural, and democratic communities,” the report states.
“If we only use their solutions, our society becomes extremely vulnerable in a world that is changing under the pressure of great powers, geopolitical tensions, and a technological race. That is why we must develop our own solutions.”
The report presented an “overview” of the influence of tech giants on Denmark’s digital infrastructure, stating that the public sector and education systems should not be “dependent” on the services of these companies. Morten Bodskov, Denmark’s Minister of Industry and Trade, was direct in his position, stating in a press release that “We need to contain the tech giants,” adding that “if we only use their solutions, our society will become extremely vulnerable in a constantly changing world, pressured by major powers, geopolitical tensions, and a technological race. That’s why we need to develop our own solutions.”
The European Commission is holding public consultations until July 3rd regarding the future of cloud computing legislation in the bloc to “address Europe’s cloud and AI infrastructure capacity gap.”
The law will ultimately address research and innovation to accelerate cloud and AI data centers, private investment in sustainable cloud and AI capacity, and increasing the “secure processing capacity” of EU-based cloud providers.
In 2024, Mario Draghi’s report on the state of Europe’s competitiveness noted that the bloc needs to “improve technological infrastructure and reduce dependence” on cloud service providers from outside the EU.
