Finland's Ministry of Justice is considering halting its plans to start using US-hosted cloud services, according to news group Uutissuomalainen (USU).
The reason is the changing geopolitical situation. Given the increasingly uncertain relationship with the US, some European countries have started to wonder whether relying on US technology providers is a good idea.
For example, it was reported this week that France plans to stop using US-based Microsoft Teams and Zoom apps for video conferencing, replacing them with a domestically developed platform.
According to EuroNews, the move is part of France's strategy to stop using foreign tech vendors — especially ones from the United States.
Finnish MEP Aura Salla (NCP) has warned of risks that if it decided to, the US has the ability to cut Europe off from American web services, according to Svenska Yle, the public broadcaster's Swedish-language news outlet.
Earlier this week, Salla, who was formerly Meta's Public Policy Director and Head of EU Affairs, issued a press release warning about such risks. It was published by the news agency STT.
Besides the justice ministry, benefits agency Kela and the Finnish Tax Administration also plan to use US-based cloud storage.
In an Yle article published on Monday, Finnish cybersecurity expert Petteri Järvinen lamented that Europe has left its information systems at the mercy of American companies.
The Ministry of Justice has been planning to shift all of its data concerning candidates, voters and vote counting to US-based Amazon Web Services.
The ministry is due to make a final decision about the matter in the spring, according to USU.
