SUSE response to EU consultation on Open Digital Ecosystems

The European Commission recently concluded its “Towards European Open Digital Ecosystems” consultation. With over 1,000 respondents, the high participation confirms a critical industry demand to break free from vendor lock-in and build a resilient, competitive digital future. 

For those of us who have spent decades driving open-source innovation, this call for input represents a long-awaited recognition that the “status quo” of relying on proprietary, non-EU technology is no longer sustainable for our economy or security.

In our submission to the Commission, SUSE laid out a clear framework for this transformation based on several core pillars:

• We proposed SEAL (Sovereignty Effective Assurance Levels) as a standardized framework for organizations to verify digital independence. This allows Europe to move beyond vague definitions and measure actual digital sovereignty levels.
• Treating Linux, Kubernetes, and Sovereign AI as critical infrastructure protects Europe’s essential digital base layer. This ensures that the foundations of our economy remain open and resilient against external dependencies.
• We advocate for hardened, EU-based build systems to guarantee the integrity of software supply chains. Securing the build process locally prevents foreign interference and strengthens European cyber-resilience at its source.
• Private-by-Design AI frameworks are essential to keep sensitive data within European firewalls. This prevents data leaks to foreign providers and ensures that European innovation complies with our strict privacy standards.

Read the full submission here

For SUSE, this consultation is about the health of the entire European tech landscape. To drive change we don’t just need one or two successful European firms. We need a massive surge in European open source companies at scale. As Frank Feldmann, our Chief Strategy Officer, noted at the Open Source Policy Summit in Brussels last week:

“The challenge for Europe isn’t just about code; it’s about the scale of our ecosystem. SUSE is a leader in this space, but for Europe to truly move forward and achieve digital sovereignty, we need 10, 50, or even 100 companies like SUSE actively driving the market and contributing back to the foundation of our digital infrastructure.”

Community alignment

What is particularly encouraging is how well our enterprise vision aligns with the broader community. When we looked at the first 900+ responses to this consultation, a very clear and complementary pattern emerged from the ecosystem.

There is a resounding call for immediate political will and action; the community is tired of “research phases” and wants to see public procurement shift decisively toward open source as the mandatory default. This is coupled with a demand for smarter funding, moving beyond just the creators of software to support the non-profits and individual maintainers who keep the infrastructure secure and stable. 

Perhaps most importantly, the community is highlighting the barriers in our education system. Schools are often forcing students into proprietary software ecosystems early on. To build a sovereign future, we must introduce open-source office suites, cloud-native platforms, and Linux desktops into the classroom today.

There is already immense power in Europe. By aligning the solid open source foundation SUSE provides with the grassroots demands for political action and educational reform, we aren’t just talking about sovereignty, we are actively building it. 

SUSE is proud to lead this transformation, ensuring that the European digital ecosystem remains open, secure, and, most importantly, fully aligned with your operational requirements.

Is your strategy future-proof? Digital sovereignty is no longer just a research topic, it is a requirement. Use our Cloud Sovereignty Framework Self-Assessment to gain a deeper understanding of your current sovereignty posture and identify the specific exposures your organization may face as we transition toward a more autonomous European digital ecosystem.