Dutch parliament asks govt to reduce dependence on US software firms

The Netherlands' parliament on Tuesday approved a series of motions calling on the government to reduce dependence on US software companies, including by creating a cloud services platform that is under Dutch control. 

While such initiatives have foundered in the past due to a lack of viable European alternatives, lawmakers said changing relations with the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump have given the issue fresh urgency. 

"Considering that our total dependence on American tech giants is a danger to our autonomy and cyber safety, (parliament) asks the government to launch a tender for a national cloud completely under Dutch management," one of the motions said. 

 

Another called on the government to re-examine a decision to use Amazon's web services for the Netherlands' internet domain hosting, while a third called for active development of alternatives to US software and preferential treatment for European firms in public tenders. 

The vote comes a day after dozens of European tech firms called on the European Commission to create a sovereign infrastructure fund to invest in European technology, including cloud infrastructure, and a "Buy European" mandate.     

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