Microsoft’s decision to block access to the email account of International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor due to sanctions imposed by the US government shows us that the EU cannot trust US operating system providers. The US applied sanctions in February to ICC staff in response to their investigations into Israeli politicians. This challenges the trust of all users of Microsoft’s cloud technologies in Europe.
“Microsoft just held a major lobbying event in Europe, claiming that European services are safe and detached from the US government’s unpredictable decision-making. This was now proven to be just a poor pitch. Naturally, US companies must comply with US law. For Europeans, this means we cannot trust the reliability and security of US companies’ operating systems. A large part of our public sectors’ services rely on Microsoft’s products. This is a major cause of uncertainty”, Salla says.
With this decision, Microsoft is raising awareness in Europe on how totally reliant and vulnerable we are in our dependence on US technology companies. We must finally put our companies first and build European alternatives. Europe cannot rely on mercy of the US or Chinese governments’ decisions. This requires also protective actions.
“We no longer have the same trust with the Trump administration – meaning, that we need to review our data transfer agreement with the US. Europe must wake up and understand we can only rely on ourselves. This is a significant factor for both European competitiveness and comprehensive security. European data should no longer be given to the Americans for their development work free of charge”, Salla says.Microsoft’s decision to block access to the email account of International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor due to sanctions imposed by the US government shows us that the EU cannot trust US operating system providers. The US applied sanctions in February to ICC staff in response to their investigations into Israeli politicians. This challenges the trust of all users of Microsoft’s cloud technologies in Europe.
For more information:
Member of the European Parliament, Doctor of Social Sciences
aura.salla@europarl.europa.eu
0032 2 28 45736 (Brussels)
0033 3 88 1 75736 (Strasbourg)
Policy Advisor, Media relations and Communication
sara.anttila@europarl.europa.eu
+32 470 988013
