Open Source Is the Cornerstone of Digital Independence

The European Commission published its technology sovereignty package in June. Digital independence does not mean doing everything ourselves. It is the ability to repair and replace what we bring in from outside. Open source is the cornerstone of that ability.

What does digital independence require?

According to the Commission’s package, the EU currently spends roughly 264 billion euros a year, mostly on closed-source American software and cloud services. The package also includes a multi-year strategy to support open source and broaden its adoption across Europe. Germany already funds open-source maintenance through its Sovereign Tech Fund programme, and France through its Horizon Numérique 2030 initiative. The same choice repeats at every level: digital independence is built one step at a time, not with a single decision.

Why is a closed system a risk?

I have built software on top of major international platforms and seen that we cannot do everything ourselves. All software is built on the work of others, and dependency is unavoidable. What matters is its form.

A closed system is a black box. When it breaks, when the price multiplies, when sanctions cut off access, there is no alternative. Open source is like any machine you can repair yourself: its parts can be replaced, its supplier switched, its code audited. To be digitally independent, each layer of the system must be either replaceable, or open and repairable by us.

Is open source fragile?

Some open-source projects are maintained by a single volunteer, but that does not mean all open source is fragile. The funding gap can, for example, be closed by the financing model Germany has already launched and by the maintenance instrument the Commission has published.

Open code also brings a new kind of security in the age of AI. A language model can read open source, but it cannot reach closed code. When a user’s problem is not solved by the manual, AI can help in an entirely different way when the code is there to read, no matter how many people maintain the project. The risk is not open source. The risk is ignorance.

Does open source create business?

Industrial-scale, global businesses have been built on top of open source. The Commission’s package names two examples: the Finnish company Aiven and the German company SUSE, whose product is built on Linux, open-source software developed in Finland.

Openness does not block business; it smooths it. Connecting to a service whose code is open is easier than working blind behind a closed interface. An open implementation can also be extended and have services built on top of it. A business built on top of a closed product, by contrast, depends on the product itself and its development path, and when the supplier changes direction, the add-on service is at its mercy.

Does open source mean isolation?

Open source does not mean isolation. Europe cannot build a fully self-sufficient technology stack, nor should it try to. Sovereignty means staying open to the world while retaining control over what we bring in. A machine you can repair yourself can still be bought abroad, but a black box cannot be opened even at home. The same question of whose jurisdiction applies touches software and cloud alike.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced in October 2025 that it would switch from Microsoft’s office tools to the German open-source Open Desk, after the United States imposed sanctions on the Court’s judges and prosecutors. According to the strategy the Commission has published, software built with public funds must be public code. The same principle scales from a small municipality’s procurement all the way up to the Union.

When the next decision on public-sector IT systems comes to the table, the question is not only price or country of origin. It is also whether we buy a black box or a repairable machine.