Dutch Parliament calls for end to dependence on US software companies
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Changing relations with the US under the Trump presidency sparked a Dutch rethink on data security.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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AMSTERDAM – The Netherlands’ Parliament has approved a series of motions calling on the government to reduce dependence on US software companies, including by creating a cloud services platform under Dutch control.
While such initiatives have foundered in the past due to a lack of viable European alternatives, lawmakers said changing relations with the US under the presidency of Mr Donald Trump have given the issue fresh urgency.
“The question we as Europeans must ask ourselves is: do we feel comfortable with people like Trump, (Meta CEO Mark) Zuckerberg and (X owner Elon) Musk ruling over our data?” said Ms Marieke Koekkoek, of the pro-European Volt party, who authored one of the eight motions approved on March 18, in an e-mail to Reuters.
In addition to launching a sovereign cloud services platform, the motions called on the Dutch government to re-examine a decision to use Amazon’s web services for the Netherlands’ internet domain hosting, and to develop alternatives to US software and preferential treatment for European firms in public tenders.
In a reaction, Amazon said its cloud is “sovereign” as customers “have full control over where they locate their data, how it is encrypted and who can access it”, a spokesperson said on March 19.
Amazon has invested more than €180 billion (S$260 billion) in the European Union since 2010 and employs more than 1,000 workers in research and development and corporate offices in Amsterdam and The Hague, the spokesperson said.
The Dutch vote on March 18 came a day after dozens of European tech firms called on the European Commission to create a sovereign fund to invest in European technology, including cloud infrastructure, and a Buy European mandate.
A spokesperson for the Economic Affairs ministry declined comment.
Mr Bert Hubert, a Dutch technology expert who has advocated for reducing dependency on the US, said: “This is only the first step in potentially doing something.”
But he said one important outcome would be forcing agencies to publicly report on risks related to their reliance on US cloud firms.
“With the advent of Trump 2.0, it has become clear that this is not something you can harmlessly sign off on,” he said. REUTERS
