Mme. Von der Leyen, the president of the EU commission, gave a speech this morning at the Davos meeting. She addressed European sovereignty regarding sectors like security/military, economy, democracy, technology. The problem is that the objectives are right, without any doubts, but instead of words a line of concrete actions is required.

As a person who has worked more than a decade with topics and projects regarding public services, I want to point out that Europe and in particular Germany has done little in the last three decades to get independent of US technology regarding its telecommunication networks, the SW used in public institutions, search engines, social media, data centers based on customized Opensource SW etc.

In 2025 he US administration openly shows that the USA have become egocentric, unilateralistic and a serious adversary, if not foe of the EU and democratic Europe countries in general, it is urgent that the EU uses its economic power concretely for

• a fast rebuilding of its IT networks (backbones, communication server and respective control SW),
• a replacement of server operative systems and application-SW by European made components in all of the public service and governmental sector,
• a replacement of proprietory US SW by Opensource SW customized by European experts – not only in the public sector, but regarding all security-relevant technology companies located on European soil,
• and, if possible, also a systematical replacement of US produced or in the name of US companies produced HW and, of course, Chinese HW.

The reasons are, of course, European security interests. Well, D.T., sounds familiar?

We can no longer trust US companies who may misuse gathered and/or flowing information for whatever purposes of a more and more autocratic and imperialistic US regime. We have learned our lesson after the NSA scandal of 2012/2013. We can neither take the risk that US SW companies can and would block European public services on the command of some EU-antagonist in the US administration. Analogous risks come of course with technology and IT components produced by China. They must disappear, too, from all IT, supporting public services, governmental institutions, the military and secret services. .

So, Mme. Von der Leyen, please, include the following points in your announced “European Security Strategy” – and replace nice words, which we European citizens have heard for decades without consequences, with action and proper investment. I am not a politician, but wishes are free – and I created the list with European security requirements in my mind :

1. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will step by step rebuild our IT and telecommunication networks, which in the future will be based on European components and European control-SW. We will invest billions in this effort and issue invitations for tenders the next months. Due to European security interests the tender bidding process is open for European owned companies (paying tax in Europe), only.
2. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will replace all of our SW used in public, governmental and military services piece by piece with Opensource-SW adapted, customized and secured by European experts. Due to European security interests the tender bidding process is open for European owned companies (paying tax in Europe), only.
3. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will support and strengthen efforts to create or improve encryption technology , which will be customized by European experts and companies, by all required means and the money required. Due to European security interests the tender bidding process is open for European owned companies (paying tax in Europe), only.
4. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will disallow the usage of American and Chines social media for people under the age of 16. We will support the publication of fact based information by open public fact-checking SW based on European search engines and European AI. This kind of SW will be supervised by an independent European committee and European experts. The experts will be invited and elected by the European parliament. We will furthermore enforce an obligatory and explicit marking of opinions and irony in public media as such.
5. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will invest a total sum of at least 40 billion Euros per year in European AI technology. The objective is to build our own European applications, in particular the application of AI in manufacturing, robotics and military devices. Another objective is the research for and development of new AI architectures aside of scaled American LLMs. Applications for financial support can only be sent by European universities and by European owned companies paying tax in Europe. The funding is decided and done by a committee of European experts elected by the European parliament.
6. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will invest a total sum of at least 10 billion Euros per year in European quantum computing technology and quantum-computing SW. Due to European security interests, applications for financial support can only be sent by European universities and European owned companies paying tax in Europe. The funding is decided and done by a committee of European experts elected by the European parliament.
7. We, the European countries organized in the EU, will forbid more than 19% of capital share investments placed by non-European investors in selected European key companies in the fields of AI, SW, robotics and IT security technology. Exceptions can be made for countries which allow for higher European investments and company leadership participation in their High Tech sectors.
8. [ Provocative: We, the European countries organized in the EU, will punish criminal and distinctly anti-democratic publications on European servers or mediated through European network components with fines up to 15% of yearly revenues of the publishing and the operating companies. Individual cases will be handled in public sessions of an European jurisdiction court created for Internet, Social Media and AI criminality. ] Note: The last point is a critical one, which I have not really thought through, yet.

I regard points 2, 4, 5, 6 as relatively easy to implement. Point 1 is a matter of good planning.

Mme. Von der Leyen, it is a matter of fact that, in particular, Germany’s public services are almost totally dependent on US SW – also due to another fact, namely that your Conservative party has done nothing substantial to reduce this dependency during the last decades.

So, please talk this agenda through with your friends in the governing German conservative parties. In particular: Stop the totally unnecessary hiring of Microbesoft for public IT services and inner as well as citizen-oriented e-gov measures. And stop the plans of multiple German states to introduce and use the Palantir SW of one of the most influential anti-democrats on earth, namely P. Thiel.