By Laura Pitel in Kiel
Publication Date: 2026-04-04 09:00:00
This small German state’s bid to cut loose from Microsoft has not been plain sailing.
As officials in the finance division of Schleswig-Holstein had their email accounts moved to alternative open-source systems last September, messages began landing in the wrong in boxes. Some judges and police received no emails at all.
It was an exacting few weeks for chief information officer, Sven Thomsen, until the glitch was fixed. “It was extremely stressful,” he said.
But it was part of a broader push: a quest for “digital sovereignty” that has made the north German state a test case for Europe as leaders increasingly argue the continent must reduce its dependence on US Big Tech.
“The important thing is that we become independent from centralised, monopolistic providers,” said Thomsen. “That is what we are striving for, step by step.”
The idea has been met with scepticism, ridicule and admiration. One German IT blogger compared Schleswig-Holstein to the French comic-book hero…