The Dutch Government is adopting STACKIT, a German cloud provider, to reduce its reliance on US technology firms.
The shift, effective immediately, is intended to “strengthen the digital autonomy of the Netherlands and reduce dependencies on non-European providers”, according to the government.
“With this agreement, we are taking an important step in reducing our dependence on parties outside Europe and strengthening our digital resilience,” said Dutch justice minister David van Weel.
State digital secretary Willemijn Aerdts said the move reflects a broader push to diversify suppliers.
“Digital autonomy means that we can make choices ourselves from a diverse range of providers,” he said, adding that stimulating the European market is a priority.
Until now, Dutch Government systems have relied largely on US companies such as Google and Microsoft.
Officials say data will be stored within the European Economic Area. (EEA) and the government retains audit rights to verify compliance.
Provisions also allow contracts to be terminated if the provider were to fall under non-EEA ownership.
The German company chosen by the Dutch Government has also been selected as one of four European providers to build and operate the European Union institutions’ cloud infrastructure over the next six years for €180 million.
The Dutch move comes amid wider concern in Europe over data access and foreign control of critical infrastructure.
It follows a similar move in France earlier in April, when the government decided to to switch from Windows to Linux’s operating system on ministries’ workstations.
