The European Parliament will replace Google with Qwant as its default search engine on June 4, 2026, making it one of the most visible institutional acts in the bloc’s escalating effort to reduce dependence on U.S. technology.
Reuters reports that the change applies to Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox browsers used across the Parliament. It will be applied automatically, though users retain the option to switch to another search engine. The Parliament has 720 lawmakers, along with thousands of assistants and administrative staff.
What the Switch Means: A Parliament spokesperson described the move as “part of a larger framework of actions aimed at reducing EP reliance on non-EU digital tools and promoting European-based, privacy-focused services.”
Qwant, based in France, presents itself as a privacy-focused search engine that neither tracks users nor sells their data to advertisers. This change is primarily symbolic, as the EU’s leading legislative body is openly moving away from the world’s dominant search engine.
Timed With a Broader EU Tech Package: On the same day as the Parliament’s announcement, the European Commission introduced measures on chips, cloud computing, and AI as part of its “Buy and Use European” initiative. On June 3, 2026, the Commission adopted what it described as an ambitious package to strengthen the EU’s digital autonomy. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen identified technological sovereignty as essential to EU competitiveness and strategic resilience.
The EU relies on non-EU countries for over 80% of essential digital products, services, infrastructure, and intellectual property. This figure is central to ongoing discussions in Brussels about achieving digital independence.
What Individual EU Countries Have Done: The Parliament’s decision follows the concrete actions by member states to reduce reliance on U.S. platforms and infrastructure.
France: The government announced that by 2027, 2.5 million civil servants will stop using U.S. video conferencing tools, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and GoToMeeting, and will switch to Visio, a domestic service. Civil service minister David Amiel said the goal is to prevent “scientific exchanges, sensitive data, and strategic innovations” from being exposed to non-European actors.
Germany: In early 2026, the German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation mandated the use of open formats, such as the Open Document Format (ODF), for official documents, replacing Microsoft Word as the government standard. By the end of 2025, Schleswig-Holstein had migrated 80% of its state government workplaces, around 30,000 in total, to Linux, resulting in savings of over €15 million in license fees. In May, the federal domestic intelligence agency selected ArgonOS, a European alternative to Palantir, for processing unstructured data.
Denmark: In 2025, the Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs announced that all employees would transition to Linux and LibreOffice, replacing Microsoft products. This decision was driven by a commitment to digital sovereignty and concerns over repeated claims by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Greenland.
Netherlands: After the U.S. sanctioned the Hague-based International Criminal Court, Amsterdam sought alternatives to American digital services, prompting the institution to stop using U.S. platforms. Germany and the Netherlands have since led efforts among member states to transition enterprise software to European open-source alternatives.
Austria: The Austrian military has adopted open-source office software as part of a broader shift away from U.S. providers.
In November 2025, France and Germany held a Summit on European Digital Sovereignty, prioritising AI, data, and public infrastructure. They launched a joint task force that is expected to report its findings in 2026. The EU Council’s December 2025 declaration emphasised the collective goal of making digital sovereignty central to economic resilience and security.
A European Alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace: Government and parliamentary initiatives are now being reflected in new products. Office EU, a Netherlands-based startup (incorporated in The Hague as EUfforic Europe B.V.), is developing a cloud-based productivity suite positioned as an alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
The platform integrates documents, spreadsheets, presentations, file storage, email, calendar, and video conferencing, all hosted on European infrastructure and operated exclusively under EU jurisdiction, with no data transfers outside the bloc. Its core software is fully open-source and auditable, and the service is designed to be GDPR-compliant by architecture rather than through policy add-ons.
The product is currently in early access and has attracted more than 1,000 sign-ups to its waitlist. Office EU allows organisations to connect existing Microsoft or Google accounts, import emails, calendars, and files, and operate both systems in parallel before fully transitioning. This approach is intended to reduce barriers for public bodies and SMEs that cannot risk service disruptions.
The project directly supports the “Euro-stack” initiative, offering European-owned alternatives across all layers of the digital workplace, from search and storage to communication, without routing data through servers under U.S. jurisdiction.
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