France and Germany Boost Digital Sovereignty Push

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Geo-Specific , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development France and Germany Boost Digital Sovereignty Push Franco-German Plan Defines Digital Sovereignty, Paris Unveiles Tech Fund David Meyer • June 19, 2026     Credit Eligible Get Permission Image: Shutterstock Europe's push for technological sovereignty continues to accelerate, with France and Germany agreeing on a common position and Paris announcing a fund totaling 13 billion euros - $14.9 billion - for French and European tech firms. See Also: The SASE Model: A New Approach to Security The French government said Friday that it hoped to boost the funding, which comes from institutional investors, to 15 billion euros by the end of the year. Half of the investment will go into "deep tech" companies in fields such as quantum, space tech, biotech and artificial intelligence. The AI element of the announcement is particularly salient. France is the site of Europe's only significant large language model maker, Mistral AI. This news also comes in the wake of the U.S. government's decision to deny foreign nationals access to Anthropic's Mythos 5 model - a move that forced Anthropic to essentially shutter all access to it and its safer variant, Fable, prompting a wave of European calls for self-sufficiency (see: US Anthropic Export Controls Spark Sharp EU Reaction). The new investments form part of the third phase of a long-running initiative that followed a 2019 report from economic professor Philippe Tibi, who complained of insufficient financing for French tech firms. Around 40 partner investors are involved in the third phase, with new partners including the likes of defense tech giant MBDA and satellite operator Eutelsat. "This new phase, of unprecedented scale and at a crucial moment, testifies to the confidence of institutional investors and our collective ability to massively direct savings towards innovation and disruptive technologies, in the service of our economic and industrial sovereignty," industry minister Roland Lescure said Friday. The French government also said it would work with Germany, the European Union's other main economic engine, to foster new, pan-European funds that could support the scaling-up of tech firms in the region. France has been keen on tech sovereignty for quite some time, eagerly promoting to buy French plans for public procurement. Germany has traditionally been more hesitant about initiatives that may be seen as protectionist. That divide has become less pronounced with the advent of the second Trump administration and its threats to annex European territory, prompting growing concerns about the prospect of the U.S. president flipping a "kill switch" on U.S. tech services in Europe. Some critics say the administration did just that by imposing export controls on Anthropic. France and Germany have even managed to reach a common understanding of what "digital sovereignty" should mean in practice. On Wednesday, a Franco-German joint paper defined the term as meaning "the capability and capacity to develop, provide, use, adapt and control digital technologies including hardware in an independent, self-determined and secure manner in order to strengthen the ability of the EU, a state, an administration, or a private organization to act independently and to have final decision-making authority regarding its processes and activities." Crucially, the Franco-German understanding of tech sovereignty does not involve completely shutting out non-European companies. It states a preference for EU-headquartered vendors, and refers at length to stimulating the European ecosystem through "a toolbox for strategic public procurement," but it also allows for providers from "trusted international partner states" under "certain risk-based conditions." "Open markets and international cooperation with trusted partners remain essential pillars of European digital sovereignty," the paper states. It stresses that "increasing the EU's digital sovereignty does not mean turning towards protectionism and isolationism." The joint paper is also notable for the weight it gives to cybersecurity concerns, in justifying the envisioned sovereignty push. "Given the geopolitical situation, digital sovereignty is more than ever also a crucial security challenge," it reads. "Cyberattacks, security breaches, cyberespionage and hybrid threats increasingly target digital infrastructures as nervous systems of our democracies, economies and societies." The document warns of the effects of supply-chain disruptions and calls for "creating the conditions necessary to effectively conduct criminal investigations and legal proceedings against cybercriminals, state-sponsored attackers and other actors who threaten digital infrastructure." It also talks about ensuring that Europe has the scientific depth it needs to "take the lead" in tech domains including cybersecurity, AI and quantum. "This paper calls on the European Commission to define highest protection standards for the most sensitive data, including adequate safeguards to protect data from cybersecurity risks and the effects of non-EU extraterritorial legislation, and mandatory usage of privacy-enhancing technologies," the paper adds. Although it is not specified, the "non-EU extraterritorial legislation" in question almost certainly includes the U.S. CLOUD Act, which allows American law enforcement to obtain customer data from U.S.-based cloud firms, regardless of where they store customer data. The European Commission recently proposed a Cloud and AI Development Act that would effectively shut U.S. providers out of European public procurement tenders that involve sensitive information (see: EU Prepares Path for Shutting Out US Cloud Providers). "Strengthening our digital sovereignty and reducing technological dependencies is a geopolitical imperative," said German digital minister Karsten Wildberger in a Friday statement on the joint paper. His French counterpart, Anne Le Hénanff, also used the opportunity to hail the budding partnership between Mistral and German business software giant SAP, saying it "shows that a sovereign European AI can meet the needs of governments and companies."