Something shifted in 2025 — and it wasn’t subtle.

Over the past twelve months, a string of political events has turned digital sovereignty from a policy talking point into an operational planning factor. Governments are signing mandates, forming new alliances, and building alternative infrastructure at a pace that would have seemed unlikely just two years ago.

If you run IT for a European organization, this is no longer background noise. It is starting to affect procurement, compliance, formats, and vendor relationships — right now.

What’s Happening: The Geopolitical Shift of 2025–2026

A Fracturing World Order

In January 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a landmark address at the World Economic Forum in Davos titled “Principled and Pragmatic: Canada’s Path.” He described the current moment as a “rupture in the world order” and called on middle powers to form values-based coalitions rather than relying on a single dominant ally.

Carney repeated and expanded this message in a subsequent speech to the Australian Parliament, explicitly stating that the traditional US-led global order is fracturing — and that countries like Canada and Australia need to build agile, issue-specific coalitions to protect shared interests.

The US Steps Back From Multilateralism

The backdrop to these speeches is stark. In January 2026, the Trump administration withdrew from 66 international organizations, including multiple UN bodies. Regardless of one’s political view, the operational message is clear: assumptions about stable transatlantic alignment on standards, data governance, and technology policy are no longer safe.

New Trade Architectures Emerge

The EU and the Trans-Pacific Partnership have launched formal negotiations to create a unified trading bloc — roughly 40 nations and 1.5 billion people. This is not just about tariffs. Trade blocs increasingly define rules on data flows, digital standards, and technology procurement.

Why IT Departments Should Care

This is not just geopolitics for news junkies. It translates directly into IT risk:

The CLOUD Act allows US authorities to demand data from US-headquartered providers regardless of where that data is physically stored. As transatlantic relations become less predictable, the legal risk of storing European data with US providers is growing — not shrinking.

This is not a theoretical concern. Any organization subject to GDPR or sector-specific regulations (healthcare, finance, government) should be asking: can we demonstrate that our data processing agreements hold up if US policy shifts further?

2) Vendor Lock-In as Strategic Risk

When your office suite, identity provider, cloud platform, and collaboration tools all come from the same US vendor ecosystem, you are not just technically locked in — you are geopolitically exposed. Sanctions, export controls, policy shifts, or even corporate decisions in Redmond or Mountain View can disrupt your operations in ways that no SLA covers.

Consider: what happens to your operations if a vendor unilaterally changes terms, raises prices by 30%, or restricts feature access in your region? These are not hypothetical scenarios — they have already occurred.

3) Format and Procurement Mandates

Governments are moving from recommendations to mandates. If you serve public sector clients, deliver to regulated industries, or operate in jurisdictions adopting open standards, this changes what software you can use — and when.

The Germany ODF mandate is the most prominent example, but it will not be the last. Once one major EU member state mandates open formats for public administration, others tend to follow within 18–24 months.

4) Supply Chain and Continuity Risk

The withdrawal from 66 international organizations signals a broader pattern: the US is deprioritizing the multilateral frameworks that underpinned stable technology partnerships. For IT departments, this means that assumptions about long-term availability, interoperability commitments, and support continuity from US vendors need to be revisited.

What’s Already Changing on the Ground

Germany’s ODF Mandate

In March 2026, Germany made ODF mandatory for all public administration, with full implementation required by 2027. Microsoft Office formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) are being phased out. This is not a pilot — it is a binding mandate.

Schleswig-Holstein: Proof It Works

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein has already migrated roughly 80% of its workstations to LibreOffice, saving an estimated 15 million euros per year. Federal Chancellor Merz is now switching to openDesk, the sovereign digital workplace platform.

Franco-German Digital Sovereignty Summit

In November 2025, France and Germany convened a dedicated Digital Sovereignty Summit to identify areas for joint action — covering AI, data infrastructure, and public-sector digital tools. A joint task force was launched to deliver concrete recommendations in 2026.

The European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC)

In July 2025, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands established the EDIC for Digital Commons, a formal consortium to jointly develop sovereign digital tools. Projects like openDesk are a direct output of this initiative.

The Broader European Push

The trend is well documented. Foreign Policy published “Europe’s Digital Sovereignty Means Decoupling From U.S. Technology” in February 2026. The Register headlined “Europe gets serious about cutting US digital umbilical cord” in December 2025. France 24 asked whether the EU has a credible plan to reduce its digital reliance on US Big Tech.

These are not fringe outlets. The conversation has moved from activist circles to mainstream policy and business media.

What Organizations Should Do Now

You don’t need to replace everything overnight. But you do need a plan — and “wait and see” is itself a decision with growing risk.

1) Audit Your Dependencies

Map out where your critical systems, data, and workflows depend on US-headquartered providers. Include cloud infrastructure, office productivity, identity, email, and collaboration. Be specific: which services would fail if a provider restricted access tomorrow? Which data could you not export?

Understand how the CLOUD Act, evolving EU regulations, and emerging format mandates like Germany’s ODF requirement affect your specific situation. If you serve public sector clients anywhere in the EU, this is urgent. Even if you are in the private sector, your partners and customers may soon require ODF or sovereign hosting.

3) Evaluate Open Alternatives

Solutions like LibreOffice, Nextcloud, openDesk, and Linux-based infrastructure are mature and production-ready. The question is not “if” but “how” — and the transition path matters more than the destination. Start with a small proof-of-concept in a non-critical area to build confidence and internal expertise.

4) Plan for Hybrid Operations

Migration does not have to be all-or-nothing. A phased approach — starting with document formats, then collaboration tools, then deeper infrastructure — lets you manage risk while building capability. Schleswig-Holstein did not switch 30,000 workstations overnight. They started with pilots, measured results, and scaled based on evidence.

5) Build Internal Competence

The biggest risk in any migration is not the software — it’s the knowledge gap. Invest in training, documentation, and operational runbooks before you switch. Consider external coaching during the transition phase — and make sure knowledge stays in-house afterward.

6) Start With Formats

Even if a full migration is years away, switching to ODF as your default document format today costs almost nothing and immediately reduces lock-in. Most modern office suites — including Microsoft Office — can read and write ODF. Making this one change now gives you strategic flexibility later.

How We Can Help

At do IT smart., we specialize in exactly this kind of transition: pragmatic, phased migrations from proprietary ecosystems to open, sovereign alternatives — without disrupting ongoing operations.

Whether you need a dependency audit, a migration roadmap, or hands-on support for an office suite transition, we bring both the technical depth and the strategic perspective to get it right.

Get in touch to discuss your situation, or learn more about our Office Migration services.

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