Editor's note: The IAPP is policy neutral. We publish contributed opinion pieces to enable our members to hear a broad spectrum of views in our domains.
"Why not us?" A simple question but not an easy one. With these three words, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné echoes the words of former commissioner — and fellow Frenchman — Thierry Breton: China has a "made in China," the United States has a "buy American," why shouldn't Europe have a "made in Europe"?
This rallying call is the centerpiece of an opinion authored by Séjourné and signed by a whooping 1,145 industry leaders from Europe and beyond, and across sectors.
It argues for a change of public procurement rules to establish a firm European preference in strategic sectors. The reasoning is straightforward: European public spending should support primarily European jobs and production.
In her 2025 State of the Union address, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to "introduce a 'made in Europe' criteria in public procurement." The Single Market Strategy, adopted in May 2025, announces an effort of simplification as well as a European preference criterion in public procurement "for certain technologies and strategic sectors." A Public Procurement Act legislative proposal is expected in the coming weeks.
This signaling will matter for digital governance professionals. The European preference criteria is starting to transpire in concrete legislative proposals across several sectors and beyond the public procurement reform itself. Cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence is where some of it is unfolding.
Often, public policy change starts with public sector users. The Commission's own internal digital services office is rolling out a Cloud Sovereignty Framework. This framework covers sovereignty criteria across operational, technological, environmental and supply-chain considerations. It also considers "legal & jurisdictional sovereignty" to evaluate the legal environment, exposure to foreign authority and enforceability of rights that govern the services of a technology provider. It also evaluates "security & compliance sovereignty" to measure the extent to which security operations, compliance obligations and resilience measures are controlled within the EU, "ensuring independence from foreign jurisdictions and long-term operational assurance."
This policy direction will inevitably lead to operational and governance implications for operators in Europe, prompting concrete implementation changes for digital governance leaders.
Séjourné's France has been a leading proponent of a European preference in Europe's industrial and sovereignty agendas for decades. The wind of national politics in many member states is blowing in that same direction.
But I would argue this may not be an easy journey for the European Commission.
First, the EU will further this policy stance at a time of grave global instability. Many of its trading partners reconsider globalization of trade, as the geopolitical order is shifting before our eyes. Europe will have to deploy its own agendas while adjusting to a broader environment it cannot control.
Second, the EU won't stand as a monolithic block on the issue of European preference. The opinion piece received many reactions of support, but it also showed daylight, significantly with conservative voices in Germany who will be very influential in this discussion. Veteran conservative German Member of the European Parliament Christian Ehler cautions against a blanket approach: yes to a Europe-first agenda, but this should be applied surgically, combined with a cost-cutting agenda, rigorous enforcement and completion of the internal market.
Regardless of where the chips fall, this sovereignty waterfront is definitely a hot topic for our community this year.
Isabelle Roccia, CIPP/E, is the managing director, Europe, for the IAPP.
This article originally appeared in the Europe Data Protection Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.
