The call for sovereignty is growing louder, yet implementation lags behind. For Jean-Philippe Balança, Chief International Officer at Smile and co-founder of the EOS consortium, the issue is more cultural than technical.
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“Europe does not want to be just a customer for the big entrepreneurs and services provided by the United States or China,” stated Emmanuel Macron last November from the Berlin summit. This increasingly popular stance is fueled by tense geopolitics since Donald Trump’s return to power and the escalating frictions between the Old Continent and the U.S. Although such proclamations are inexpensive, in reality, both businesses and public administrations remain highly reliant on U.S. digital giants.
Is this reliance inevitable? Jean-Philippe Balança, Chief International Officer at Smile, a European leader in open source, and co-founder of the EOS (European Open Source Consortium), has observed this gap for over 25 years while assisting large organizations with their digital transformations. According to him, genuine European technological independence is achievable if substantial efforts are truly invested.
Real Dependency, Not Inevitability
A study published in April 2025 by the consulting firm Asterès reveals that European companies annually spend 264 billion euros on American providers for their cloud services and software. 83% of their spending in this sector goes to American suppliers, and 80% of the value created remains on American soil. For perspective, the EU’s energy bill was estimated at 360 billion euros in 2024.
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Jean-Philippe Balança concurs: “The dependence on American infrastructure is an industrial reality we see daily with our clients.” However, he rejects any fatalistic view: “The challenge for Europe isn’t to rebuild from scratch but to regain control of critical layers of its added value. Europe already has the necessary skills and talent pool.”
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A Cultural Reflex Rather Than a Technological Shortfall
The prevailing narrative often attributes Europe’s lag to technical factors: lack of infrastructure, insufficient computing power, non-competitive AI models… For Jean-Philippe Balança, this assessment is misplaced. The industrial capacities are present but face primarily cultural and organizational barriers.
The main obstacle to autonomy is often psychological: the reflex of “nobody ever got fired for choosing an American hyperscaler.” Yet, the risk of losing control over data and long-term costs is very real. To reduce this dependency, we must shift from a consumption of off-the-shelf services to investing in open ecosystems. The industrial capabilities exist, notably in cloud and AI, but they require a strong political will to prioritize actors who ensure that the value created remains within Europe.
Yet the financial risk is well documented. The Asterès study indicates that cloud service prices are rising by about 10% annually, partly because organizations struggle to switch providers once committed, which professionals describe more as tied selling than as a service improvement. At this rate, the cumulative increase in American digital service exports to Europe could reach an additional 421 billion euros over the next ten years, directly impacting the continent’s balance of payments.
“Technological Autonomy Must Be Proven”
For Jean-Philippe Balança, breaking this dependency requires action on two fronts simultaneously: redirecting public and private orders towards European suppliers, and convincingly demonstrating that these alternatives are viable. On the first front, tentative signs are emerging in the public sector. In 2025, state orders in the interministerial cloud market grew by 62%, reaching 84 million euros, 70% of which were directed towards European suppliers. According to Asterès’ projections, redirecting just 5% of purchases could create 178,000 jobs by 2035. If increased to 15%, it could generate 463,000 jobs.
What’s necessary is a massive and rapid reorientation of public and private orders towards European suppliers from the annual 264 billion euros spent. Open source is likely our best lever: it allows for the pooling of R&D efforts while ensuring total transparency and reversibility.
The second front is more demanding. For large organizations, the decision to switch is not based on principles but on concrete, documented demonstrations. “Large organizations are ready for this transition when presented with a scalable industrial proof of concept. Technological autonomy will be won by proof: by demonstrating that European alternatives, based on open source, are not only more ethical and sovereign but also more efficient and suitable for current security demands,” he explains.
By making digital technology a true tool of industrial strategy, Europe can free itself from its current dependencies. Once this realization is made, open source and this transformation naturally emerge as an opportunity rather than a risk.
Jean-Philippe Balança, Chief International Operations Officer, Smile
Jean-Philippe Balança serves as Chief International Operations Officer at Smile. As a co-founder of the European Open Source Consortium, he is committed to advancing open source in Europe, which he views as a strategic lever for digital sovereignty and growth.
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Jordan Park writes in-depth reviews and editorial opinion pieces for Touch Reviews. With a background in UI/UX design, Jordan offers a unique perspective on device usability and user experience across smartphones, tablets, and mobile software.