If it were up to Volt, Europe would become digitally autonomous (very) quickly.
Europe still relies on American cloud services. Volt wants to radically change that.
Published on October 2, 2025
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Our DATA+ expert, Elcke Vels, explores AI, cyber security, and Dutch innovation. Her "What if..." column imagines bold scenarios beyond the norm.
For our series The Hague Innovation Check, we delved into the voting behavior of the House of Representatives. Which party votes most innovatively? The winner: Volt. The party also scores as one of the highest in the data subcategory. An important priority for Volt is to say goodbye to big data companies from the US. Bjorn Beijon, the fifth candidate on the electoral list: “Volt moved its internal communication from Meta's Workplace to a German company.”
About our research
For our series The Hague Innovation Check, we analyzed thousands of votes in the House of Representatives using AI and editorial checks. The main question: how innovative are the parties' votes? A pro-innovation score was calculated for each political group by weighing the votes and the sentiment (positive/negative/neutral) against each other. We classified votes as pro-innovation when they supported policies or measures that actually promote new technologies, sustainable solutions, or the conditions for innovation. The result is an overall innovation score and a score for five subtopics: climate and sustainability, innovation in healthcare and agriculture, data, chips, and community.
We looked at votes between July 2, 2024, and June 3, 2025:
- Motions: proposals by members of parliament calling on the government to take action or pay attention to a particular issue.
- Amendments: changes proposed by members of parliament to existing bills.
- Legislation: laws regulate important social issues.
- Private member's bills: bills that are not submitted by the government, but by individual members of parliament or groups of members of parliament themselves. This allows them to put issues on the political agenda.
- Notes of amendment: documents in which proposed changes to a bill are recorded.
The dataset consists of a total of 6,448 votes. These votes were mainly motions, which can structurally influence the results because coalition parties usually vote down opposition motions in order to support the government, regardless of content. As a result, opposition parties may score higher than government parties.
On October 29, the Netherlands will elect a new parliament. This comes at a time of major transitions and challenges. One of those challenges is how we deal with the growing power of big tech in our daily lives.
Sending emails, scrolling through social media, online meetings. You probably don't give it much thought, but we can't ignore it. Here in Europe, we are heavily dependent on American tech giants. Virtually all European governments use cloud services from the US, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Together, these three companies control almost the entire European cloud market—around 70 to 80%.
Beijon finds it worrying that we in Europe are so dependent on big tech from the US. “Users of such services are bound by American standards that do not always comply with European legislation and privacy requirements.”
Bjorn Beijnon. Photo credits: Maarten Heijkoop
The Hague Innovation Check: Volt in the lead
The fact that autonomy over personal data is currently an important topic is also clearly evident from IO+'s Hague Innovation Check. In it, our editorial team analyzed which party votes most innovatively in the House of Representatives.
We looked at votes cast between July 2, 2024, and June 3, 2025. This included motions, amendments, and legislation. A pro-innovation score was calculated for each political party by weighing the votes and the sentiment of the motions against each other.
For the subcategory ‘data’, we analyzed topics such as AI, medical imaging, quantum technology, traffic data, cyber security, and data sovereignty. This showed that Volt scored the highest, with 88.3%, followed by GroenLinks-PvdA with 84.8%. PVV (45.5%) and FvD (49.7%) finished at the bottom.
Recently, the House of Representatives approved a motion by Volt MP Marieke Koekkoek. In this motion, Koekkoek argues for accelerated investment in European cloud alternatives to reduce dependence on American tech companies.
This example also shows that PVV is not in favor of banning American big tech. The party voted against the motion. Jan Valize (PVV) explained this as follows:
“Some products are simply better when provided by these kinds of companies, provided that strict conditions are met. This seems like an attack on Big Tech.”
Nevertheless, the House seems to agree in broad terms: the power of American tech giants must be curtailed. Our research shows that, in addition to Volt, many other parties are advocating for European alternatives. For example, the House also passed a motion by Jesse Six Dijkstra (NSC), which calls on the government to use Dutch or, at least, European cloud services. A motion by Barbara Kathmann (GroenLinks) also concerned a Dutch “Rijkscloud”.
“People condemn Big Tech, while relying on those services every day.”
Beijon is on Volt's list of candidates and is also a PhD researcher at the University of Amsterdam. In his research, which is in its final stages, he studies the influence and power of large tech companies.
For his research, Beijon spent six months doing online and offline fieldwork in various Dutch conspiracy groups. He observed how members of such groups are extremely critical of large tech companies and figures such as Bill Gates, but at the same time use Microsoft software, such as Outlook.
This is a trend that can be seen more broadly in society. “People condemn and distrust tech companies, while relying on those same services every day.” According to Beijon, we should ask ourselves more often whether it is ethical that we are constantly being turned into a product, while we have no control over our own data.
Volt says goodbye to Meta
Becoming digitally autonomous is quite complicated, Beijon knows. “American tech companies are so deeply integrated into our daily lives that finding alternatives for email and cloud services, among other things, can be very difficult.”
But with a little effort, a lot is possible, as Volt demonstrates. The pan-European party recently moved its internal communications from Meta's Workplace to the German Haiilo. Beijon: “Together with colleagues from Italy, Poland, and Germany, among others, we have found a European alternative. Haiilo fits in well with Volt's vision and goals.”
The government must set a standard
Volt wants to set a new standard with this. Beijon believes that the Dutch government should also set a good example when it comes to digital autonomy. If it were up to Volt, the Dutch government would be completely independent of American tech companies by 2030. Government services would then run on open source, setting a clear standard. “Citizens and businesses will learn from this and start using these standards themselves.”
Acting as a continent
Becoming independent from tech giants outside Europe is a noble ambition, but it can only be achieved if different European countries actually join forces. “If each country acts separately, the approach will remain fragmented. It is much more powerful if we tackle this together,” says Beijon.
Volt therefore intends to focus heavily on EuroStack in the coming period: a European project involving lawyers, academics, politicians, and companies that offers a concrete framework for an open source IT infrastructure in Europe. Marieke Koekkoek previously called on the cabinet to stimulate European digital innovation through this initiative.
“Only in this way can we create something that meets our own legal and ethical standards.” One thing is certain, Beijon concludes: “We need to become much more critical.”
