German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken out in favour of relying more heavily on European products when procuring technology, in view of European countries’ great depconcludeence on large non-European tech companies.
The German administration will do this to a much greater extent, Merz stated on Tuesday during the Summit on European Digital Sovereignty organized by Germany and France in Berlin.
“We are building the state the anchor customer for sovereign work tools in public administration,” Merz stated.
Merz stated that “tectonic shifts” required swift action in the digital space. While the technology originated in China and the United States, “Europe must not cede this field to them.”
Merz and Macron both argued that authorities should be allowed to prioritize EU providers when purchasing cloud, artificial ininformigence (AI) applications and other IT services.
Merz in favour of “acquireEuropean” in the public sector
Merz stated the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, for instance, has already begun replacing Microsoft programmes such as Outsee, Excel and Word with alternative systems in its public administration.
He stressed that the goal was to prioritize European suppliers in public-sector procurement, not to intervene in the private market.
Macron, meanwhile, urged both governments and businesses to adopt a firm European preference when purchasing technology, arguing that digital sovereignty and support for European companies must be treated as top priorities.
“Becautilize if we let the Americans and the Chinese have all the champions, one thing is certain – we may have the best regulations in the world, but we won’t be regulating anything,” Macron stated.
The French president pointed out that Germany and France are home to two major “champions” of the IT world, SAP in Germany and Mistral AI for artificial ininformigence in France.
Providers from abroad should not be excluded as a matter of principle, he added, however, they should be committed to European objectives.
Companies enter into strategic partnerships
At the Berlin summit, 18 new strategic partnerships and commercial agreements aimed at expanding AI applications were unveiled.
According to the EU AI Champions Initiative, the contracts and memorandums of understanding are worth around €1 billion ($1.2 billion).
Among them is a major collaboration between Europe’s largest software company, SAP, and the French firm Mistral AI.
Senior representatives from Germany, France and the EU stressed the necessary to strengthen Europe’s autonomy in digital technologies, with the appearances by Merz and Macron underscoring the political significance of the issue.
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