Your data can stay in the region you chose while control over the service sits somewhere else.
A region is a geographic placement option. It does not, by itself, determine corporate ownership, governing law, administrator access, software supply chains or whether you can keep operating without the provider.
That distinction applies everywhere. Europe is a useful case because its institutions have begun turning the abstract question of control into explicit procurement criteria.
Sovereignty entered procurement
In April 2026, the European Commission awarded a sovereign-cloud framework worth up to €180 million over six years. It evaluates strategic, legal, operational, supply-chain, technology, security, environmental and data sovereignty—not just server location.
Read the Commission announcement →
On 1 June, the Commission explained that the framework scores providers against 48 criteria in eight categories and assigns Sovereignty Effectiveness Assurance Levels. Its highest level requires full sovereignty rather than data location alone.
Read the Commission’s framework explanation →
Policy widened beyond procurement
On 3 June 2026, the Commission proposed a broader technological-sovereignty package covering semiconductors, AI, cloud and open source, including a single EU-wide framework for assessing cloud and AI sovereignty.
Read the Commission package summary →
Policy became migration
France plans to replace extra-European videoconferencing across state services with Visio by 2027. Schleswig-Holstein reported LibreOffice across almost 80% of workplaces outside its tax administration by December 2025. Denmark’s Ministry of Digital Affairs began a smaller Collabora pilot.
The boundary
This is not a coordinated EU exit from public cloud. It is a move toward European providers, open source, private and hybrid systems, portability and jurisdictional control.