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8/7/25, 10:55 AM The urgency of digital sovereignty in a geopolitically unstable world - The Catalyst
The urgency of digital sovereignty in a
geopolitically unstable world
Interest in digital sovereignty is growing as EMEA organizations seek
resilience and autonomy amid geopolitical shifts and regulatory pressures.
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
Image Credit: Julio Guijarro, CTO EMEA, Red Hat
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
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