4th July 2025, Brussels. Today, CISPE announces its Sovereign Cloud Manifesto developed by the CISPE Sovereign Cloud Committee. Established at the request of CISPE members, and co-chaired by Leaseweb, the Committee provides oversight and guidance on initiatives, statements, and policies related to strategic autonomy and sovereignty in the European cloud sector. In addition to CISPE’s fully European governance, to qualify for the CISPE Sovereign Cloud Committee members must demonstrate and certify independence from Non-European Governments’ influence. Current members span Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Spain.
The need for European alternatives to foreign cloud and AI solutions has become increasingly urgent amid growing political, economic, and technological pressures. CISPE remains committed to open and competitive markets, fair software licensing and customer choice, while advocating against protectionism which could harm both European technology providers and customers. The CISPE Sovereign Cloud Manifesto outlines five themes and 20 practical actions essential to deliver and protect a choice of sovereign cloud infrastructure services for European customers. The five themes cover:
- Reform of EU procurement rules to support European cloud providers. Public spending should contribute to Europe’s digital sovereignty and strategic resilience.
- Promote visibility and recognition of certified sovereign cloud solutions. Enhance the accessibility and trustworthiness of European cloud alternatives.
- Build composable, secure, and fair European cloud ecosystems. Fostering competition, interoperability, and technological independence.
- Promote a sustainable and scalable cloud sector.Align Europe’s cloud infrastructure growth with the EU Clean Industrial Deal.
- Use-it-or-Share-it: ensure fair and strategic allocation of energy resources.Prevent energy-based exclusion and support the deployment of European cloud capacity.
Francisco Mingorance, secretary general of CISPE, commenting on the manifesto said:
“Amid all the grand declarations and top-down strategies, practical solutions remain scarce. CISPE continues to deliver fast, market-driven, and easy-to-implement steps that build on Europe’s existing strengths – while safeguarding customer choice. Through its Sovereign Cloud Committee, CISPE will continue to champion pragmatic and inclusive approaches to achieving true European strategic autonomy in the cloud.”
The CISPE Sovereign Cloud Manifesto can be downloaded here. Anyone interested in contributing to further development of these themes should get in touch with secretariat@cispe.cloud. An in-depth workshop on these issues is planned for September 2025.
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Supplementary quotes from CISPE Sovereign Cloud Committee members:
NB: To qualify for the CISPE Sovereign Cloud Committee Members must demonstrate and certify independence from Non-European Governments Influence; have their registered global headquarters in the European Economic Area (EEA); at least 85% of the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) must be either companies headquartered the EEA, or individuals who hold European or EEA nationality. Additional safeguards to ensure ongoing European control are outlined in detail in CISPE’s governance and must be certified by the CEO or CFO of any company represented on the Committee.
“In an environment where European sovereign cloud services are increasingly seen as essential, CISPE will leverage its expertise and close relationship with customers to provide well-informed and practical advice on what this really means and how it can be achieved. Our new European Sovereign Cloud Committee offers the market a strategy for European cloud providers based on fully European governance and credibility to do exactly that,” said Jacqueline van de Werken, president of the CISPE board and general counsel of Leaseweb.
“The launch of the CISPE Sovereign Cloud Committee addresses the need to strengthen and defend Europe’s cloud service offerings. By uniting our expertise, we enrich the market, boost the competitiveness of our companies, and unleash a wave of innovation. This collaborative framework enables the development of certified, interoperable solutions that deliver performance, resilience and respect for our strategic and environmental requirements.,” says David Chassan, chief strategy officer at OUTSCALE, Dassault Systèmes (France). “In doing so, we are building the leading cloud ecosystem that embodies our European values, where everyone contributes to our digital sovereignty and the growth of the entire sector.”
“European SMBs are the backbone of our economy, and digital sovereignty is essential to protect their independence and growth. At Jotelulu, we are committed to empowering IT companies with accessible, secure, and sovereign cloud solutions built for Europe” added David Amorin, CEO of Jotelulu (Spain), which helps European IT integrators transform into cloud service provides.
Alexander Windbichler, CEO of Anexia (Austria), comments; “Our experience with Broadcom underlines the importance of having viable open-source alternatives to proprietary stacks controlled by dominant providers. As the voice of cloud infrastructure providers in Europe, CISPE has a critical role in advocating for real choice for vendors and customers.”
“As agentic AI reshapes the global landscape, Europe must fully embrace its leading role, building on its strengths in research excellence, open-source innovation, and a thriving ecosystem of technology providers and AI startups. European AI cloud platforms like Genesis Cloud are essential enablers of this momentum, offering the sovereign, secure, and high-performance infrastructure needed to develop and deploy the next generation of AI. CISPE’s Sovereign Cloud Committee provides a platform to unify and amplify these efforts, helping European innovation compete globally and shape the future of AI,” said Cesare Bosi, Director of Marketing and Communications of Genesis Cloud (Germany).
For further information please contact
Ben Maynard
Director of Communications, CISPE
Ben.maynard@cispe.cloud +44 (0) 7968 537982