Myths and misconceptions
Proprietary software makes us dependent:on their vendors,their terms,their calendars. Every update brings constraints,every migration a cost. Each time, it’s the same story:we lose a little more control over our digital tools,our data,our choices.
In contrast, open source has emerged as a promise of autonomy. Open software frees us from these chains: the code is accessible,modifiable,reusable.We can adapt tools to our needs, choose our hosting infrastructure, and retain control over our data.On paper, everything seems in place:freedom, transparency, control.
We are told that through open source, we will finally regain our digital sovereignty. It’s false.
Open source was never designed to guarantee a state's sovereignty. It was born from the will to pool efforts, promote transparency, and build digital commons. These commons are valuable, but they do not confer power. Sovereignty is not decreed by a licence. It is earned through the capacity to influence governance, to shape direction, and to invest durable skills and resources.
Using free software does not make you free. Dependence does not disappear with open code. It shifts toward those who write that code, who maintain it, who decide its priorities. When the main contributors to Kubernetes, RHEL or Chromium are American, our freedom remains conditional. We use open code, but decisions are still made elsewhere.
A project being open source does not make it neutral. Behind every major platform stand
companies, foundations, and power dynamics. The United States understood long ago that open source is not an alternative to software capitalism, it is one of its instruments. They invest massively in it. They place their engineers, fund projects, and structure governance. What they gain from it is influence and leverage.
Europe, meanwhile, consumes.
The reality of dependence
This posture of a mere consumer is untenable. It amounts to hiding behind a collective ideal without assuming responsibility for it. If we want open source to serve our sovereignty, we must stop treating it as a patch or an escape route from cloud giants. We must make it a pillar of our industrial and political strategy.
And that requires one simple thing: acting together. No European country, alone, has the critical mass to rival the United States or China. France, Germany or Italy can multiply national initiatives; they will remain scattered islands facing continental digital powers.But if we join forces to build European commons, if we participate collectively in the governance of major global open source projects, then we can once again become a force.
This union must not be limited to declarations of intent.It must translate into an effective presence where the direction of the software we rely on is decided:in the foundations, technical committees and consortiums that define standards.Open licenses allow us to copy code.Sovereignty requires us to decide its future.
Because dependence does not stem only from code, but from what surrounds it. Software forges, build chains, package registries, CI/CD or security analysis platforms. Most are hosted outside Europe.GitHub,Docker Hub, NPM: all belong to non-European actors.
We opened the door to the code but handed the keys of the house to someone else.
A path to action
Regaining control of our information systems begins here with the vital organs. Operating systems, servers, collaborative tools, messaging platforms, CI/CD pipelines, deployment environments: these are what determine our ability to develop, evolve and secure our own solutions.
Public procurement is the most immediate lever. Public money must serve to regain control of the digital sphere, not to fund our dependence. Every public contract is an act of sovereignty: it must strengthen our commons, not those of others.
Europe must stop subsidising innovation while buying elsewhere. Every call for tenders should include upstream contribution clauses, reversibility, and open governance. Every euro spent on software widely used by European institutions should strengthen our collective capacity to influence its roadmap.
That means investing in continuity: funding European maintainers, guaranteeing long-term support, pooling resources within foundations capable of speaking on equal terms with major global open source organisations. It is not about making everything European, it is about no longer leaving the keys of our digital infrastructure in the hands of actors who do not share our interests.
While we debate sovereignty, our critical infrastructures already run on technologies designed, funded and governed elsewhere.Each day,our dependence takes a deeper root.
Yet Europe has the means to act. It has already built technological commons in other fields: data regulation, telecommunications standards, security certification. It can do so again in software.But that requires recognising that open source is not a technical issue:it is a political project.
Opening code is a necessary condition,but not a sufficient one.Sovereignty is measured by the ability to maintain, decide and replace without depending on others.And for that, we need engineers, funding, coherent public policies and a collective will.
Europe must shed the illusion that transparency equals independence.Openness protects nothing unless it is paired with a strategy of influence. Open source is not sovereignty but it can be a vehicle of it, if we reclaim the levers, govern our commons, and anchor them at the heart of our industrial strategy.
Now is the time for our technical leaders and public officials to act, to invest in open source, to contribute, and to reclaim the future of our digital commons.Open source is not the end of our dependence, but the beginning of our power.
About the Author
Gaël Lago is Director of Open Source Software Assurance at LINAGORA, where he leads initiatives to strengthen trust and governance in open technologies. With a background at the crossroads of technology and public policy, he advocates for a stronger European voice in digital strategy. A committed supporter of digital sovereignty, he actively promotes public investment, open collaboration, and the development of independent European digital infrastructures.