Europe doesn’t lack tech talent. Its leaders lack execution

Europe’s leaders say they want digital sovereignty. They give speeches about reducing dependence on foreign technology. They publish strategies, declarations and frameworks. But when it comes to actually making that shift happen, even in the simplest cases, progress stalls.

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The issue isn’t that independence is impossible. Nor is it that the technology doesn’t exist. It’s that too often, Europe’s political system excels at talking about change and struggles to implement it.

This matters more than policymakers seem to realise. Digital infrastructure is no longer just an industry; it is strategic power. Search engines shape access to knowledge. Cloud platforms host government data. Operating systems underpin public services. When those layers are controlled abroad, so is a slice of Europe’s economic and political autonomy.

And yet dependence is reinforced daily through routine decisions. Public institutions continue to default to foreign platforms. Procurement rules favour incumbents. Civil servants upload public data into non-European systems. None of this is inevitable. It is the result of choices.

**Europeans are sick of Big Tech and ready for alternatives **

And public sentiment is already shifting. Across France, Germany and Spain, majorities say enforcement of rules on large technology companies is too weak rather than too strict, and roughly half of respondents in those countries believe major tech firms are as powerful as — or more powerful than — the European Union itself. That suggests concern about platform dominance is not confined to policymakers or industry insiders; it is a mainstream public view.

Trust in the tech sector is also fragile. A recent multi-country European survey found fewer than half of respondents feel positive about businesses deploying new technologies, while an overwhelming majority say they worry about their privacy when using digital services. Citizens are not indifferent to who controls the platforms they rely on; they are increasingly cautious about it.

Geopolitics is reinforcing this shift. Polling over the past year shows favourable views of the United States have declined across much of Western Europe, while other surveys indicate that large shares of Europeans now view American global influence more sceptically than in previous decades. When political trust moves, attitudes toward foreign-controlled digital infrastructure often move with it.

The striking thing is how easy many of those choices would be to change

For the most important layers of everyday digital life, viable alternatives are already available and widely used. Think of what you might call the “easy five”: search engines, browsers, operating systems, office software and social media platforms. Switching between them is not a moonshot innovation challenge. It is often a matter of a few clicks.

Tens of millions of people already use European or open alternatives across these categories. The challenge is not proving they work. It is getting from tens of millions to hundreds of millions.

At Ecosia, we’ve seen this first-hand. In 2026 so far, searches made by our users have grown by 20% — entirely organically, without a major marketing push. People are becoming more aware of how digital services shape economies, societies and power structures, and they are acting accordingly. That shift shows sovereignty is not theoretical. It is already happening from the bottom up.

What’s missing is momentum from the top down

Governments have enormous power to accelerate adoption simply through their own purchasing and usage decisions. Public-sector demand can create markets overnight. If even a portion of Europe’s institutional spending flowed toward domestic digital providers, scale would follow — and with it competition, innovation and resilience.

Instead, Europe often debates sovereignty while buying dependency.

This is not just a security concern. It is an economic one. Platform companies are among the most valuable businesses in history because they concentrate data, users and profits. When Europe relies almost entirely on foreign platforms, it exports value at scale — and then wonders why productivity growth lags. Few things are as economically powerful as a dominant digital platform.

The real divide in Europe’s tech debate, then, is not between optimists and pessimists, or nationalists and globalists. It is between entrepreneurial builders and execution-averse institutions.

Europe already has the ingredients needed for technological independence: world-class universities, deep capital pools, strong startups and a vast single market. What it lacks is not vision statements or white papers. It lacks consistent follow-through.

History shows that technological leadership shifts when governments align policy, procurement and funding behind clear goals. The United States did not become a tech superpower by accident. It did so through deliberate coordination between public institutions and private innovation.

Europe has the same tools. It simply uses them less decisively

Real leadership would start with a straightforward step: aligning public-sector behaviour with public-sector rhetoric. If governments say digital sovereignty matters, their own systems should reflect that priority. Not as a symbolic gesture, but as standard practice.

The risk is not that Europe tries and fails. It is that it keeps announcing intentions while postponing execution.

Europe does not need technological miracles. Many of the solutions it needs are already built, available and widely used. In many cases, they are only a click away.

Until policymakers move from declarations to deployment, the continent’s biggest obstacle will not be Silicon Valley. It will be its own inability to get things done.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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