On July 16, the European Commission proposed a Seven-year budget of 2 trillion euros – the largest in the history of the EU – to boost autonomy, competitiveness and resilience. The spending plan addresses cybersecurity, innovation and other key digital pillars, but leaves out a crucial component: open source.
Open source software – created and maintained by communities and not solely by private companies, and free to edit and modify – is the foundation of today’s digital infrastructure. Since the 1990s, it has been ever-present in the digital infrastructure on which European industry and public sector institutions depend, creating huge dependencies on open source applications and libraries.
From commercial devices and services to government systems and research projects, open source powers the Internet and the countless platforms we rely on every day. Open source offers transparency, security and flexibility that proprietary software cannot match. By investing in open source, Europe can support small businesses, universities and public institutions, giving them tools to compete with global technology giants.
Despite this importance, the budget proposal does not include specific funding for open source. This is evident given the importance that has been given to open source in recent legislation, such as the Cyber Resilience Lawhe AI Lawand the proposal Cloud and AI Development Law. The omission is alarming as Europe pushes to increase digital sovereignty, strengthen cybersecurity and boost competitiveness.
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If Europe wants to remain competitive and self-sufficient in the digital world, it must support open source strategically and efficiently. Public investment must bring together resources that the private sector, philanthropy, volunteers and the market alone cannot provide.
The arguments in favor of an EU sovereign technology fund
Grassroots innovation funding has been the basis for the EU’s modest levels of open source investment. As a result, attention has shifted to extending these technologies to core digital infrastructure.
Maintenance financing offers something different and has already been proven. in a recent historical reportthe open technologies think tank Europe Open Forum called for an “EU Sovereign Technology Fund” dedicated to supporting European technology projects essential for digital sovereignty, with open source at the center. This is based on the German sovereign technology fundwhich has supported global open source collaboration.
A fund like this would be welcome. Without investment in open source, Europe risks becoming dependent on foreign technologies, being vulnerable to external threats and having minimal competitiveness in global markets. Open source allows Europe to develop its own technological infrastructure, providing greater control, transparency and security.
This is not an isolationist version of digital sovereignty; It is an investment in the autonomy and resilience of the global digital infrastructure. It has long-term benefits for Europe, but also supports other challenges to the dominant technological visions offered by the United States (centered on platform monopolies and market-driven control of core digital infrastructure) and by China (where centralized, state-led models prioritize surveillance and strict government oversight).
In contrast, Europe’s open source approach offers a pluralistic and collaborative alternative that emphasizes transparency, interoperability and public value, and investment in the global open source ecosystem on which it depends is in line with these values.
A missed opportunity in the European Competitiveness Fund
The proposal European Competitiveness Fund – one of the EU’s main financial tools according to its new budget – does not prioritize open source as an area of strategic investment, neither at a high level nor in detailed actions such as digitalization. This is a serious omission. Given that the fund is designed to support innovation and digitalization across Europe, leaving out open source is an obvious but reversible oversight.
Any absence of open source funding will be seen as short-sighted and will undermine Europe’s digital transformation in an increasingly multipolar and saturated geopolitical landscape. EU leaders should prioritize open source in their new seven-year budget by explicitly making it a component of the European Competitiveness Fund’s digitalization approach. The creation of an EU Sovereign Technology Fund, along with other targeted investments in open source, will be essential to achieve its objectives.
This is an opinion article by Daniel Stenbergco-founder and lead developer of curla command-line tool for getting or sending data, including files, using URL syntax. Daniel is also president of the European Open Source Academy.
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