Page 13 - Red Hat PR REPORT - AUGUST 2025

Blog Post

Digital Sovereignty is far more than compliance

By Julio Guijarro, CTO EMEA, Red Hat

August 6, 2025 - I have honed my expertise in digital sovereignty in recent years largely as a result of it
being one of the things our EMEA-based partners and customers always ask about. There is no one
unifying reason for this increased interest in digital sovereignty, but rather several converging factors
are accelerating its urgency.

The most obvious is geopolitical instability. Sanctions and trade wars continue to disrupt global business
operations. As reported, a coalition of nearly 100 organisations has urged European Commission leaders
to establish a dedicated fund for building technological independence. In a joint letter addressed to
President Ursula von der Leyen and Digital Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, the group advocated for
strategic investments in homegrown infrastructure to reduce reliance on non-European tech giants.

Another concern is that seemingly neutral cloud providers can become liabilities. One example is the
high profile move of a major hyperscaler to cut off the International Court of Justice’s email access
following political pressure, highlighting that vendor obligations can sometimes override customer
needs.

In addition to geopolitical concerns, regulatory pressure is also mounting, with regulations like DORA
(Digital Operational Resilience Act) and NIS2 in Europe requiring financial institutions and critical
infrastructure providers to ensure operational resilience.

While it is true that geopolitical dynamics have put digital sovereignty into the spotlight, it would be a
misconception to think of this as a fresh challenge, as at its core digital sovereignty is about resilience
and autonomy. Organisations need to prove they can operate independently, even when global political
shifts or vendor decisions disrupt their operations.

Prepare for unintended consequences

In April 2022, the Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB), a financially stable Dutch institution, was forced into
bankruptcy. This wasn’t due to poor management or insolvency, but rather because of sanctions
imposed on its Russian parent company, Alfa Bank.