France's plan: Away from Windows, towards Linux

France wants to detach itself more quickly from non-European IT providers. At an interministerial seminar on April 8, 2026, the digital agency DINUM, together with other government agencies, defined concrete measures and timelines. The state is to strengthen its digital sovereignty across all departments – together with authorities and industry.

The initiative builds on a French and European debate that has been ongoing for years. France increasingly sees a strategic, political, and economic risk in the fact that central IT systems of the administration – operating systems, cloud services, collaboration tools – depend on non-European providers.

Switch to Linux

DINUM announced a first central step for its own workstations: it wants to replace Windows with Linux. In parallel, authorities are migrating to state-operated collaboration tools. The health insurance fund Caisse nationale d'Assurance maladie, for example, is switching its approximately 80,000 employees to the messenger Tchap, the video conferencing software Visio, and the file transfer service FranceTransfert. The government had previously announced that the central health data platform would be migrated to a “trusted” – i.e., European-hosted – solution by the end of 2026.

In addition to technical changes, the government is relying on a new organizational form: ministries, public institutions, and private companies are to collaborate in thematic coalitions. The focus is on openly developed software (communs numériques) and interoperability standards such as Open-Interop and OpenBuro. This is intended to make switching individual components easier without having to rebuild entire infrastructures.

Plans must be in place this year

DINUM is coordinating a cross-departmental phase-out plan. By autumn 2026, each ministry – including subordinate authorities – must present its own roadmap. It is to cover workplace systems, collaboration tools, antivirus software, AI systems, databases, virtualization, and network technology.

In parallel, the state procurement agency DAE is mapping existing dependencies, while the economic agency DGE is defining a European digital offering. On this basis, concrete targets and deadlines are to be established. For June 2026, DINUM is also planning the first “rencontres industrielles du numérique” – industry meetings at which public-private partnerships are to become concrete. Among other things, an “alliance public-privé pour la souveraineté européenne,” i.e., a public-private alliance for European sovereignty, is planned.

“The state can no longer be content with identifying its dependence – it must overcome it,” said Budget Minister David Amiel as part of the announcement of the measures. France must regain control over its data, infrastructures, and technological decisions. Anne Le Hénanff, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital, called digital sovereignty a “strategic necessity” and called for interoperable and sustainable solutions at the European level.

(fo)