TALLINN — Estonia is actively assessing ways to decrease its reliance on American technology providers such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon for public-sector IT infrastructure, the country’s public broadcaster ERR reported on Friday, January 30, 2026.
The evaluation is being carried out by the State IT Center (Riigi Infosüsteemi Tehnoloogiakeskus – RIT), which is currently rolling out a centrally managed, cloud-based workstation environment for government agencies and state institutions. The system is built predominantly on Microsoft 365, including its productivity suite, cloud storage, and collaboration tools.
RIT Director Ergo Tars stated that the review does not signal an intention to completely abandon US-based providers in the short term. Instead, alternative European or domestically developed solutions will be tested through a pilot project scheduled to begin in autumn 2026.
“There are no plans to fully abandon US providers,” Tars told ERR. “But we must be prepared. If a decision were made in the European Union that American products are no longer trusted, then what situation would we be in? In that case there would not be much difference whether it is Microsoft, Amazon or Google. Then we would have to look purely at Europe-based products.”
The assessment is framed within wider European debates on digital sovereignty, data security, vendor lock-in, supply-chain risks, and the potential for service disruptions or politically motivated restrictions imposed by non-EU governments. Estonia, widely regarded as one of the most digitally advanced societies in the world, has historically relied heavily on US cloud and software providers to deliver its renowned e-governance services.
RIT estimates that approximately 15,000 of the roughly 25,000 government workstations across ministries, agencies, and local authorities could migrate to the new centrally managed environment within the next two years. Officials stress, however, that a wholesale shift away from American technology remains improbable in the near future due to integration complexity, existing contracts, cost considerations, and the maturity of competing European alternatives.
The initiative aligns with parallel moves elsewhere in the European Union. France has publicly committed to phasing out Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other foreign video-conferencing platforms across all government departments by 2027, replacing them with its domestically developed Visio solution. French authorities have cited national security, cost control, and digital independence as primary motivations.
Other EU member states, including Germany and the Netherlands, have also expanded procurement preferences for European or open-source software in sensitive public-sector environments, while the European Commission continues to promote “GAIA-X” and other initiatives aimed at building sovereign cloud infrastructure.
Estonia’s review is expected to feed into ongoing EU-level discussions on critical digital infrastructure resilience and third-country dependencies. RIT officials have indicated that any future procurement decisions will balance functionality, interoperability, cost, and strategic autonomy.
No immediate timeline has been set for major changes. Tars emphasized that the pilot project will serve primarily to gather practical data on the performance, security, and total cost of ownership of non-US alternatives.
The announcement has drawn attention both domestically and across the EU, where governments are increasingly weighing the trade-offs between the convenience and advanced capabilities offered by American tech giants and the long-term risks associated with concentrated foreign dependency in critical public digital systems.
