As even some of Europe’s most Atlanticist, free-market corners grow wary of their addiction to the U.S., a few countries and cities are embarking on their own political efforts to break free.
National lawmakers in The Hague have been building pressure on the Dutch government to wean off its dependence on American providers — only for their efforts to be derailed by Geert Wilders’ decision to quit the government coalition.
The Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus decided on Tuesday to look for alternatives to allow them to drop Microsoft productivity products and cloud services, as Denmark prepares to take over a leading role in Brussels running meetings of EU ministers from July 1.
But Thursday’s strategy acknowledges skepticism as to whether the EU actually has alternatives for these political front-runners to fall back on, or whether it makes sense to splash billions of euros on getting them off the ground.
The EU’s tech chief Virkkunen has underscored the Commission’s desire to keep the bloc open to the world in her first months in office, by taking trips to India, Japan and the U.S. and consistently emphasizing the importance of dialogue and close collaboration.
She has the backing of some of the most influential tech lobby groups in town — even on the need to continue to work with the U.S.
“We need a transatlantic tech alliance to jointly develop and protect the technologies that underpin our shared security and economic prosperity such as AI, quantum and semiconductors,” Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, director general of DigitalEurope, told POLITICO ahead of Thursday’s unveiling.