Sovereignty Summit: Merz and Macron Rehearse Shoulder-to-Shoulder Stance

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France and Germany, digitally united at the head of 23 other digital ministers, the EU Commission, and the EU Council Presidency: the Franco-German engine is to drive Europe forward in digital sovereignty. To give this political weight, the French President flew to the Summit on European Digital Sovereignty in Berlin in the afternoon. It is Emmanuel Macron's third summit with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) since he took office.

"The tectonic shifts we are currently experiencing in the world require rapid action in the digital space," said Friedrich Merz. "Because the questions of the future will also be decided predominantly in the digital space." The USA and China are in a "systemic rivalry" for supremacy. Europe must not allow itself to be "made a vassal" in this, Macron emphasized in Berlin.

Both sides clearly demonstrated in Berlin that Germany and France want to pull together. "Europe must go its own digital way with a united effort, and this way must lead to sovereignty," said Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding: "Where achievable."

"Buy European" – where possible

The Chancellor's approach primarily involves the state as a so-called anchor customer. "We want to be a good customer as a state, as public administration," Merz told journalists in the evening. This should support European providers. This is evident in the defense sector, but the state should also be an anchor customer beyond that.

Companies cannot really be dictated to, but they too must consider who holds the "master key to the purchased digital solution," Merz emphasized. Every investment is a decision for or against digital sovereignty. However, he does not want to exclude anyone who adheres to the rules. The Chancellor did not reject "Buy European" clauses in public procurement and spoke out in favor of joint, cross-border procurement projects.

While Merz endeavored to emphasize his own capabilities, European initiatives, and unity, Emmanuel Macron went significantly further, at least verbally. Everyone is allowed to play in Europe, but only the EU does not favor its own companies. For Macron, this is also a question of loyalty: for every digital solution, existing European solutions should be chosen.

"Sovereign Digital Workplaces"

But these are not available everywhere. The outage at Cloudflare on Tuesday shows how important it is to agree at the European level and implement appropriate security mechanisms, Macron emphasized. Outage resilience also concerns the Chancellor, but in a completely different way. "As planned in the modernization agenda, we will provide sovereign digital workplaces in the federal administration over the next three years," Merz explained. "Because the state must be able to carry out its work stably even in times of crisis."

Merz left it open whether this means that Microsoft Office will be phased out in Germany in the medium term, or whether alternatives will be introduced. The alternative OpenDesk, promoted by the German company Zendis and closely related in state use in France under the name La Suite Numérique, is already being used in parts of the Chancellery and is a good example of cooperation, the Chancellor said.

In a joint paper on possible EU legal changes, both sides became clearer: the EU's sharpest competition law weapon, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), should be applicable to the cloud. The paper speaks of "predatory practices" by some cloud and AI market participants. While the EU Commission has already announced that it will examine the relationship between the DMA and cloud services, Paris and Berlin are also calling on the EU supervisory authority for the DMA in Brussels to examine AI.

AI Act partially postponed

For the French head of state and the Chancellor, there is no question that regulation should not be the primary path. "Simplification" should play a major role; in the Chancellor's German: "Bureaucracy reduction." With regard to the upcoming debate around planned changes to European law, which the EU Commission wants to present on Wednesday, both emphasized their common perspective on the desired changes.

For example, the application of the regulations for high-risk AI in the AI Act for large language models is to be postponed by one year to 2027, which both welcomed. Legal changes to the data protection regime are also planned by the EU Commission, which Friedrich Merz welcomed. He wants to prioritize data security over data protection, Merz said, adding that this is also a good offer to citizens and companies in Europe.

Digital Tax: Germany Continues Discussions

Germany and France still do not have a common position on the digital tax: discussions are ongoing within the German government about what a "platform levy" provided for in the coalition agreement could look like, Merz reported. It is being openly discussed, and the question of how such a levy should be assessed for tax purposes or as a levy on what exactly is open. Only then, the Chancellor said, will the question arise as to the extent to which this "might trigger reactions from the USA."

(akn)