Why Open Source Is Critical for Digital Sovereignty in Europe
SUSE Communities, Friday, May 15th, 2026
Europe has a mature open source ecosystem that can drive digital sovereignty if procurement policies prioritize it.
This article argues that Europe possesses a strong, commercially-proven open source software ecosystem that is underutilized in achieving digital sovereignty. The author cites evidence from France's 2012 open source procurement policy, which generated nearly 600,000 additional contributions annually and spurred IT innovation and employment growth.
The main barrier is not capability but demand-public sector procurement frameworks default to proprietary software despite the availability of sovereign open source alternatives. The article advocates for EU policy requiring public administrations to assess open source options before renewing proprietary contracts, which would create market incentives for European open source companies to scale production-grade solutions.