Modern European societies are built on an expectation of uninterrupted digital access. Everyday activities such as paying for food, accessing healthcare, managing public services, working remotely, and staying in touch with others all rely on complex digital systems that operate largely out of sight. When these systems function smoothly, their importance is easy to overlook. But a sudden, widespread digital outage would expose how deeply daily life depends on fragile and interconnected technologies.
This risk is no longer hypothetical. Technical failures, cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and power disruptions can all take critical parts of the internet offline. Added to these technical risks is a growing geopolitical dimension. As the United States increases strategic and economic pressure on its allies, Europe faces the possibility that access to US-owned digital infrastructure could become a bargaining chip in political disputes. Given that much of Europe’s cloud computing capacity is controlled by American firms, this creates a strategic vulnerability that goes far beyond short-term service outages. It raises fundamental questions about control, autonomy, and digital sovereignty.
Cloud computing now underpins vast areas of public administration, healthcare, finance, and communication. Yet this infrastructure is highly concentrated in the hands of a few US-based companies. When failures occur—whether through internal technical issues or external shocks—the effects cascade rapidly across borders and sectors. Recent large-scale outages have demonstrated how banking apps, workplace software, and communication platforms can all disappear at once. Power cuts affecting parts of southern Europe have further shown how weaknesses in physical infrastructure can instantly translate into digital collapse. These events highlight a system optimised for efficiency rather than resilience, leaving societies exposed to systemic shocks.
In response, European governments and local authorities are beginning to test how prepared they really are. In Sweden, the city of Helsingborg has launched a year-long project simulating a digital blackout to examine how public services would function if core systems failed. The exercise asks practical questions: would elderly residents still receive prescriptions, could social services continue payments, and how would authorities communicate with citizens? By mapping human, legal, and technical vulnerabilities, the project aims to define acceptable risk and build crisis-preparedness models that can be shared across Europe. This approach reframes digital sovereignty as the capacity to maintain essential services during disruption, not just control data in normal conditions.
Beyond preparedness exercises, some European regions are taking structural steps to reduce reliance on dominant US technology providers. In northern Germany, Schleswig-Holstein has replaced most Microsoft-based systems with open-source alternatives, cancelling the majority of its licences and planning to use big tech only in exceptional cases. Across France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, governments are jointly developing open-source platforms for communication and document management that public administrations can host on their own terms. Sweden’s National Insurance Agency has built domestic collaboration tools hosted in national data centres, now offered to other authorities seeking sovereign options. Together, these initiatives strengthen digital sovereignty by reducing lock-in and increasing public control.
The broader message is that digital systems must be treated like critical physical infrastructure. Roads, ports, and power grids are publicly governed, maintained, and protected because their failure would endanger society. Digital systems deserve the same attention. European policy frameworks on cloud procurement and upcoming legislation aim to prioritise resilience, security, and interoperability over lowest cost. Individuals also have a role by understanding where their data is stored and how portable it is. Absolute independence from the US is neither realistic nor desirable, but coordinated European action can ensure digital sovereignty supports resilient, accessible systems—even under geopolitical pressure.