Alexandra GeeseThe European Commission kills an important driver of European sovereignty and competitiveness: the open source strategy. What a shame!
Renaud Chaput@alexandrageese What??? Do you know where I can read more about it?
NextGraph@renchap @alexandrageese The referenced POLITICO Pro article, (a paid service) authored by Mathieu Pollet, details the EC's apparent decision to remove open-source strategy from its tech sovereignty planning. This shift might reflect revised approaches to digital autonomy within the EU's agenda. And it could be the outcome of the public consultation on Open Source held until early February, that gathered more than 1500 contributions, and the insight the EC extracted from it.
@renchap @alexandrageese On march 17th, Euractiv was still mentioning Open Source as part of the forthcoming Tech Sovereignty Package, which was supposed to be announced in March, then in April, and will eventually come on the 27th of May. And as per Mathieu Pollet, it seems Open Source has been removed from it.
https://www.euractiv.com/news/eus-flagship-tech-sovereignty-package-delayed-again/
I can only find an article on CNBC from a week ago, announcing the May 27th Tech Sovereignty package unveiling.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/07/eu-commission-cloud-sensitive-data.html
@renchap @alexandrageese
07/05/2026 agenceurope.eu : The EC has responded to the Trump administration’s criticism of the future European package on tech sovereignty, due to be presented on Wednesday 27 May. “The Commission is indeed working on a future package on tech sovereignty. What is the issue? Europe needs to get its act together and take action in the strategic sectors that are essential for our future. It’s not about the United States, it’s about Europe”, said spokesman Thomas Regnier.
07/05/2026 agenceurope.eu : The EC has responded to the Trump administration’s criticism of the future European package on tech sovereignty, due to be presented on Wednesday 27 May. “The Commission is indeed working on a future package on tech sovereignty. What is the issue? Europe needs to get its act together and take action in the strategic sectors that are essential for our future. It’s not about the United States, it’s about Europe”, said spokesman Thomas Regnier.
@renchap @alexandrageese Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA/CAIDA): The CADA is now expected to be proposed on 27 May 2026. A flagship legislative initiative aimed at tripling EU data centre capacity, establishing EU-wide eligibility requirements for cloud service providers, and creating a single EU-wide cloud policy for public administrations and procurement. The Act, proposed around the same time as a revision of EU public procurement rules, is being dubbed the "tech sovereignty package"
@renchap @alexandrageese ok... I finally found the agenda of next Commission meeting on the 27th of May, and Open Source is still there (as of 22 April). Henna Virkkunen will be talking about it, as you can see in this PDF
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/api/files/SEC(2026)2563_0/090166e52c7b98a3?rendition=false
Correction: see my latest post in thread: this agenda has been changed yesterday and the Open Source mention has been removed.
@renchap But... A week ago, Matthieu Pollet was moderating an interview of Thibaut Kleiner at the POLITICO Ai & Tech Week, so he might have heard new developments that are not public yet....
Maybe @alexandrageese knows more about that, as she relayed the news coming from . Pollet today?
@renchap @alexandrageese So, Mattheiw Pollet was right. Unfortunately i can see what he was alluding to. Yesterday, an update for the agenda of the Commission meeting of 27th of May, has been published, and if you compare it to the one I just shared above (dated 22 April), you will see that indeed, "Open Source strategy" is GONE!
Or maybe it has been renamed "Communication on European Tech Sovereignty". Is she gonna talk about Open Source or not? Let's check the minutes
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=SEC(2026)2566&lang=en
ArneBab@nextgraph The Open Source Strategy is one of the truly good things, actually pushing for welfare of the population and innovation at the same time. Cutting that would be ludicrous.
If they pull through with cutting it, it is ludicrous.
@renchap @alexandrageese
Dear @HennaVirkkunen we all hope you still plan to include Open Source as one of the pillars of the forthcoming Tech Sovereignty Package that will be discussed in 2 weeks from now at the next Commission meeting.
dwa@renchap @alexandrageese @EC_NGI the Commission meeting on Tech Sovereignty Package, followed by a press conference will start tomorrow at 10:30 AM CEST.
The video can be watched live here
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/ebs/live/1/
The video can be watched live here
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/ebs/live/1/
Peter KönigThanks!
Un-be-lie-va-ble!
Is there a reason for this (other than the fact that the great dictator doesn’t like the freedom of his subjects, and that Ms. von der Leyen is just as repulsively subservient to him as Rutte is...)?
Does this woman actually realize how ridiculous she makes herself by claiming “sovereignty” when the “owners of the code- and the data-monopolies” are allowed take their secrets to their graves?
What a crime against Europe and against our Enlightenment!
M Schommer@peter_koenig @alexandrageese
The most positive explanation for this step is a hint a very senior German automotive exec gave me 20+ years ago:
Open Source doesn't buy cars.
The most positive explanation for this step is a hint a very senior German automotive exec gave me 20+ years ago:
Open Source doesn't buy cars.
@peter_koenig @alexandrageese
Every other explanation is way gloomier:
What's the only thing standing between you and a world with total surveillance, mandatory IDs in every app and forced backdoors in messengers? Crazy hackers doing independent stuff and open-sourcing it for everybody to use it freely.
I'm not sure yet on the details, but I would not bet against Open Source getting outlawed some time soon.
Every other explanation is way gloomier:
What's the only thing standing between you and a world with total surveillance, mandatory IDs in every app and forced backdoors in messengers? Crazy hackers doing independent stuff and open-sourcing it for everybody to use it freely.
I'm not sure yet on the details, but I would not bet against Open Source getting outlawed some time soon.
vepř jako pepř@alexandrageese who would have guessed that they want control over freedom for all
Doug Whitfield [Minneapolis]@alexandrageese I initially read this as "Communism cuts open source strategy..." and was like, wut?
but now I see it says Commission and am like....wut?
dryad@alexandrageese ARG!!!!
🫰 Ada ⅘ 🌙@alexandrageese
Hello, could you please share the URL of the source so we can read more about it? Couldn't find it on my own...
Hello, could you please share the URL of the source so we can read more about it? Couldn't find it on my own...
Tanja 📞 TNJA (8652) 
🔜 GPN24 🔜 HåckMas@alexandrageese I just hope that's misreporting, especially considering I can't find any other sources talking about how the @EUCommission wants to sabotage itself that way
Jan Philip Günther@alexandrageese the @EUCommission most definitely is going the wrong way then.
VHG 🇪🇺🇩🇪@alexandrageese like with Oil & Gas, #usa has little else to offer that Corporate greet. If we bail out oil, gas and Microsoft, they lose billions, if not trillions. If we get serious, it’s like a 1000% tariff on all that USA has to offer. I still believe that is also a major reason why Putin attacked Ukraine. If you run the gas station for your town and the town tell you that within next years you will not need anymore gas, you get mad. Sure you do anything to stop progress.
@alexandrageese not that I think we don’t have to do it, but some people will get really mad. And the commission feels the pressure. The #usa will try to cut trade with eu in retaliation.
Btw, same with NATO spendings. Trump wanted NATO to spend more, because we bought a lot of our shit in the USA. Now we order more locally and from like minded partners. We have SAFE act. #trump hates it. USA wants uns to spend 5% on defense, but please with US suppliers.
Btw, same with NATO spendings. Trump wanted NATO to spend more, because we bought a lot of our shit in the USA. Now we order more locally and from like minded partners. We have SAFE act. #trump hates it. USA wants uns to spend 5% on defense, but please with US suppliers.
Askan 🇪🇺
Turre@alexandrageese Ufff, cutting out the only thing that can give you *real* sovereignty.
Lobbyists been busy beavers again.
@EUCommission we need OSS back in there, and we need them bleeping lobbyists out of the lobbies of decision making.
Kevin RussellBarrels of money lobbying.
Hans-Christoph Steiner@alexandrageese Thanks for flagging this! I'm not up on this particular issue, could you point us to a good summary of what cutting this open source strategy will affect?
When I type this headline in Google, DuckDuckGo, Marginalia Search or Ecosia (as that name appears in the screenshot), none of them finds this article.
I am once again begging everyone to
- cite your sources, ideally with a URL or DOI,
- share text in text format, not in image format,
- not just believe whatever is shared without verifying.
Thank you.
Jan Walraven ⁂@anuytstt I believe this is a piece from (heavily paywalled) Pro Politico
@anuytstt @alexandrageese see my investigation in the thread. I was able to find the information online, after a lot of searching.
Duncan Bayne@alexandrageese I mean, this is completely in line with other moves in this space from EU members (chat control, age verification, tying age verification to Android / iOS device attestation).
Watching this from a distance - Australia - and shaking my head at the US's lurch into fascism, and now the EU's enthusiasm for techno-authoritarianism.
Lambert@alexandrageese there is no tech sovereignty without #opensource . You're not in control of your digital fate unless you're entitled to see and modify the sources of your complete software stack. Even non-technical folks at the @EUCommission should have grasped that by now - so please reconsider. #digitalsovereignty
@renchap @alexandrageese @EC_NGI the Commission meeting on Tech Sovereignty Package, followed by a press conference will start tomorrow at 10:30 AM CEST.
The video can be watched live here
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/ebs/live/1/
The video can be watched live here
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/ebs/live/1/