Why NOW is the right time for framework agreements for digital sovereignty!
Although politicians are talking about digital sovereignty, the German state has just renewed its framework agreements with Microsoft for another year. Find out why we need framework agreements for digital sovereignty instead and as soon as possible!
The need for digital sovereignty
Time and again, we hear politicians talk about digital sovereignty and its necessity. This talk is no coincidence. Last year, following sanctions imposed by Trump, the American company Microsoft deactivated the email account of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, Netherlands. An unprecedented move. Digital sovereignty, therefore, also means ensuring the independence of our courts, our government agencies, and our municipalities.
On top of that, it is no longer enough for servers to be located in Europe. Since U.S. companies are subject to the so-called CLOUD Act of 2018, they can be forced by the U.S. government to hand over data, even if their servers are located in Europe rather than in the U.S. We therefore need European tech alternatives to regain full control over our data. But how exactly is the German government supporting this effort?
Microsoft’s framework agreements with Germany
In 2025, the federal government spent a total of 500 million euros on Microsoft licenses. And that’s just for Microsoft - and just the federal government. These costs will continue to rise , as prices for Microsoft 365 increased by between 5% and 43% from July this year, depending on the license.
Instead, that money could be put to good use by investing in European solutions. It’s important to note that American Big Tech companies have a virtual monopoly on the European market. After all, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google together dominate nearly 70 percent of the European Union’s cloud services.
While we need digital sovereignty within the EU, the good news is that there is already a wide variety of alternatives which you can use to replace Big Tech!
One of these alternatives is Tuta, the European company behind quantum-secure and end-to-end encrypted email, calendar, and drive solutions. With Tuta you can make sure that your data is not abused and belongs to you. And only you.
Words must turn into action!
At least, word has gotten around to the German federal government about the need for digital sovereignty. For example, at the European Digital Sovereignty Summit in late 2025, Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke of “choosing our own digital path and ensuring that this path leads to digital sovereignty.”
Nice words, but unfortunately just words.
This is because Microsoft benefits enormously from so-called framework agreements in public administration. These agreements cement the monopoly position of Microsoft products in the German market. Through so-called Microsoft terms-and-conditions agreements, which are renegotiated at regular intervals between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Microsoft, the federal government, the states, and local governments can easily order and use Microsoft products - without any need for a competitive bidding process. These framework agreements consist of standard contract terms specifically tailored to the needs of the public sector, with corresponding discounts.
Critics of these framework agreements have long argued that they give Microsoft a competitive advantage.
And despite all the public statements about the need for its own independent and European digital infrastructure, the federal government is extending its framework agreement with Microsoft for another year this year.
Schleswig-Holstein leads the way
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost state, seems to be doing a much better job than the federal government when it comes to digital sovereignty. At the end of 2025, the state announced that it had successfully migrated 80% of its state government workstations - 30,000 workstations, to be exact - to Linux. This is a major milestone.
Bavaria, the most southern federal state of Germany, also recently demonstrated that it is possible to operate without Microsoft, provided there is sufficient political will. After months of efforts, the federal state Bavaria has terminated negotiations on a framework agreement with Microsoft. Over a five-year period, nearly one billion euros would have gone to the Big Tech company. Instead, Bavaria now wants to go its own way and rely on European alternatives instead.
If we look at Germany’s neighbour country France, the situation there also looks better when it comes to digital sovereignty: Just in April of this year, France announced that it would switch all government computers from Microsoft to Linux. After all, that’s 2.5 million computers!
But if all these examples show us one thing above all, it’s this: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Wrapping up
It is not a question of whether there is a need for framework agreements for digital sovereignty but when we will get these. Because these days, choosing U.S. IT software is a conscious decision to accept the associated geopolitical risks. And that’s why now is exactly the right time to break away from Big Tech and embark on an alternative, independent path.
