Members of the European Parliament have thrown their weight behind a legislative push to give the bloc greater control over its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. A joint draft report on the European Commission's proposed Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) was presented in Strasbourg on Wednesday, calling for common EU-wide rules, stronger backing for homegrown technology companies, and a clear reduction in reliance on providers from outside the Union.
The initiative is driven by concerns that Europe's critical services—from healthcare to energy grids—run on technology owned by foreign firms, leaving the bloc vulnerable to external pressure. Spanish conservative MEP Diego Solier framed the issue in stark terms during a press conference: "This is not only a matter of economic competitiveness, it is also a matter of our capacity to make our own decisions." He added that technological sovereignty does not mean closing Europe off, but rather ensuring it has the ability to act, compete, and choose.
Why now? The spectre of US control
The push comes at a time when European leaders are increasingly wary of relying on American tech giants. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Washington has looked less like a dependable partner, and the bloc has been forced to confront how much of its digital backbone is owned by US companies. In June, the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to block access to its widely used Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models outside the US, citing security concerns. Access was restored later that month, but the episode reignited fears about so-called "kill switches" that US authorities and corporations could flip on European civilian and military infrastructure.
Dutch green MEP Reinier Van Lanschot warned of the consequences: "Our critical systems run on someone else's technology, and someone else can switch it off. Today a court, tomorrow a ministry, a hospital, a grid operator?" His remarks underscore the urgency felt across the political spectrum.
What the draft report proposes
The draft report outlines a series of measures designed to boost Europe's digital independence. It calls for increased investment in European cloud and AI infrastructure, as well as targeted help for European technology companies to scale up and compete globally. The lawmakers also want to establish common EU standards for cloud services and strengthen protections for critical sectors such as healthcare, energy, and transport.
One of the most concrete proposals is for public authorities to buy more cloud services from European providers. "Europe has brilliant businesses and they are not asking for subsidies, they are asking for customers. That's at the heart of our proposal," Van Lanschot said. The report also urges faster approval procedures for new data centres, while ensuring that projects respect environmental requirements and benefit local communities.
The Commission's original proposal aims to triple the EU's data centre capacity over the next five to seven years, a goal that the Parliament now appears ready to support with additional measures.
A market dominated by outsiders
The scale of Europe's dependence is striking. According to the Commission, three non-European hyperscale cloud providers control more than 70% of the European cloud market. That concentration raises serious questions about data sovereignty, security, and operational autonomy—issues that have become more pressing as cyberattacks on European institutions and infrastructure continue to rise. Recent incidents, such as the cyberattacks on Italy's foreign ministry and a key transport firm, highlight the vulnerabilities.
The CADA is part of a broader European effort to reduce strategic dependencies, a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The bloc has already moved to bolster its semiconductor industry and is working on a major policy shift on car emissions to support its green transition. The cloud and AI act is seen as a cornerstone of this strategy, aiming to give Europe the tools to innovate and compete without being beholden to external actors.
Not everyone is convinced that the approach will work. Some industry analysts argue that European companies lack the scale to challenge US hyperscalers, and that protectionist measures could backfire. But the lawmakers behind the report insist that the goal is not to close Europe off, but to create a level playing field. As Solier put it, "Technological sovereignty does not consist in closing Europe to the rest of the world, it consists of ensuring that Europe has the capacity to act, compete and choose."
The draft report will now be debated in the European Parliament, with amendments expected before a final vote. If adopted, it will shape the Commission's legislative proposal, which is due to be tabled later this year. For now, the message from Brussels is clear: Europe wants to own its digital future.
