Europe launches ‘anti-kill switch’ cloud shield as Trump fears grip Brussels

Four European tech firms have unveiled a new sovereign recovery system as fresh polling shows most Europeans believe the U.S could one day pull the plug on vital digital services

Europe’s fears over a possible U.S tech “kill switch” intensified yesterday as four companies unveiled what they described as the continent’s first fully sovereign disaster recovery pack.

Cubbit, SUSE, Elemento Cloud and StorPool Storage launched the joint system at the European Data Summit in Berlin, pitching it as a way for organisations to keep critical services running if a foreign provider ever cuts off access.

The launch comes as anxiety rises across Europe over the risk of over-reliance on American technology at a time of worsening political tension with Washington.

Recent polling presented to members of the European Parliament last month reportedly found 86 per cent of Europeans believe a sudden U.S move to restrict Europe’s access to digital services “should not be ruled out”, while 59 per cent said it was already a “real and concrete risk”.

The survey, carried out across all 27 EU member states with 5,079 respondents in January, found that, for 55 per cent, building a distinctly European technology path is now seen as a central strategic issue.

At the heart of the fear is the idea of a so-called “kill switch” – that Washington could force U.S technology providers to cut off services in Europe, or restrict access to cloud, communications and AI systems on which governments, businesses and institutions now heavily depend.

That concern deepened after International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan reportedly lost access to his Microsoft-hosted email account following U.S sanctions, fuelling alarm over how quickly American political and legal power can reach into digital infrastructure far beyond U.S borders. Although Microsoft denied interrupting service, the incident sharpened attention on Europe’s exposure to foreign-controlled digital infrastructure.

The four European firms – from Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and Bulgaria – said their new package was designed to guarantee business continuity in the face of catastrophic outside disruption and as a first step towards data repatriation and regaining control of workloads from foreign vendors.

Alessandro Cillario, co-CEO and co-founder of Cubbit, said: “European digital sovereignty will only scale when it becomes practical to adopt. The Sovereign Disaster Recovery Pack starts from a concrete operational need already being raised by some of Europe’s largest enterprises – disaster recovery – and turns it into one deployable solution.

“It gives organisations a realistic way to strengthen resilience, retain control over critical data and services, and begin building a sovereign alternative over time.”

Andreas Prins, Global Head Sovereign Solutions at SUSE, added: “True digital sovereignty isn’t built in isolation; it’s born from a collaborative ecosystem of open, interoperable technologies. 

“By integrating SUSE’s enterprise-grade open-source foundations with the specialised expertise of our partners, we are proving that Europe doesn’t just have the components, we have the complete, mission-critical stack.”

The launch is being presented as a response to a growing gap in Europe’s digital infrastructure market – strong demand for sovereign technology, but too few integrated European alternatives ready to deploy for critical use.

The system bundles together European technologies covering storage, orchestration, networking, identity, observability and management in a single deployable stack.

This would allow organisations to identify critical services, build a sovereign recovery setup and then extend it across other workloads over time, the companies said.

They said the package could be deployed in a matter of hours and would allow organisations to reduce reliance on non-European cloud infrastructure without replacing entire systems at once.

“Digital sovereignty in Europe has been held back not by lack of technology, but by lack of integration,” Gabriele Fronzé, CEO and co-founder of Elemento Cloud, said.

“Without orchestration, even the best technologies remain fragmented. Organisations don’t need more components – they need control when it matters most. 

“This initiative turns sovereignty into an operational reality enabling a concrete exit from dependency on non-European infrastructure.”

The companies also said the pack could help support compliance with rules including NIS2, DORA and GDPR, while preserving full European sovereignty across the technology stack.

The system has already been deployed by an Italian IT service provider, according to the release, and further integrations are expected in the coming weeks.

Boyan Ivanov, CEO of StorPool Storage, said: “European organisations need solid, integrated, and reliable sovereign IT solutions, coming from European companies, which can provide a much-needed security, business continuity, and independence.

“The existing alternatives are few and sparse, and we are now improving that with the introduction of the Sovereign Disaster Recovery Pack initiative.”

READ MORE: ‘Europe tightens grip on strategic space data as dependence on U.S tech comes under scrutiny‘. An Italian space-technology firm has partnered with Bologna-based Cubbit to create a sovereign European cloud infrastructure for Earth-observation data, as concerns mount over the continent’s reliance on U.S technology and the security of critical space information.

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