Beltug and sister CIO associations Cigref (France), CIO Platform (Netherlands) and VOICE (Germany) have drafted a joint position on the Cloud & AI Development Act. It addresses the strategic choice facing Europe between continued dependence on non-European providers or building a fair, sovereign digital market by reducing lock-in, promoting European solutions, and enforcing clear standards. At the request of the EU Commission, we have also identified the core cloud services.
29 / 04 / 26
Europe’s growing dependence on non-European cloud and AI providers has created structural imbalances in the market, increasing risks of vendor lock-in, limiting competition, and weakening digital sovereignty. At the same time, organisations face practical challenges in migrating to alternative solutions and navigating an ecosystem that remains fragmented and less mature.
Beltug, Cigref, CIO Platform and VOICE support the objectives of CADA, emphasising the importance of ensuring:
You can download the full position above to explore the findings and recommendations in detail. You can also download the accompanying reply to the European Commission, in which Beltug, Cigref, VOICE e.V. and CIO Platform Nederland identify the core cloud infrastructure and platform services
The absence of a common EU definition and certification framework for sovereign cloud and AI services is an important barrier to building trust, driving adoption, and enabling cross-border scalability.
To achieve digital autonomy, Europe must (re)gain control over infrastructure and AI capacity. This is not an easy task, given that the market for digital technologies in Europe has been dominated for years by suppliers from outside the EU. The situation must move towards a more balanced and sustainable equilibrium.
We support the deployment of a high-trust European digital identity for all EU citizens, guaranteeing both security and privacy while ensuring interoperability among Member States.
Public procurement offers a prime opportunity to stimulate a significant increase in demand for European digital technologies, thereby providing European suppliers with a steady base to grow and become more attractive for enterprise-level customers in all sectors.
Under the current CSA2 proposal, companies relying on providers that are subject to certain extraterritorial laws could be placed in a situation of structural non-compliance, as they cannot guarantee immunity from external legal influence.
The cloud market is structurally unbalanced. Hyperscalers attract customers through horizontal and vertical bundling and tight product integration, which entrenches lock-in by failing to adhere to open standards. The same dynamics risk becoming even more pronounced in AI services over the next three to five years.
The battle for visibility and market share in AI is ongoing. To secure a strong position in this rapidly evolving landscape and preserve its strategic autonomy, Europe must leverage all available policy instruments, market influence and demand-side levers to develop a coherent ‘Buy European’ strategy for AI.
Beltug will continue to engage with policy makers and business users to ensure that the Cloud & AI Development Act strengthens Europe’s digital sovereignty while remaining workable and realistic for organisations in practice.