Europe depends on more than 80% of digital infrastructure controlled outside the European Union.

Omissions

• The 80% figure, as cited by the Atlantic Council from a European Parliament report, covers a broader scope than 'digital infrastructure' alone — it refers to 'digital products, services, infrastructure, and applications' combined.
• The €264 billion figure comes from the Asterès consultancy report and measures only cloud and software service purchases from the United States, not all non-EU countries, making the direct causal link between the 80% dependency and the €264 billion cost imprecise.
• For cloud infrastructure specifically, the three largest US providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) hold approximately 70% of the EU market — lower than the 80% claimed for the broader digital ecosystem.
• The primary European Parliament report underlying the 80% figure and the original Asterès report for the €264 billion could not be located directly; both figures are verified through secondary sources only.
• The MEP's own political group (S&D) has actively promoted the 80% figure on social media, which, while not invalidating the data, suggests alignment with a political narrative.

Sources

• SecondaryAtlantic Council — Digital Sovereignty: Europe's Declaration of Independence?A European Parliament report estimates that 'the EU relies on non-EU countries for over 80% of digital products, services, infrastructure, and applications.'
• SecondaryEuropean Parliamentary Research Service — European Software and Cyber Dependencies (ATAG)Cloud infrastructure: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud hold about 70% of the EU market.
• SecondaryEuro Stack — Asterès Report Quantifies Europe's Digital DependencyThe Asterès report estimates that European businesses funnel €264 billion annually to the US economy through their purchases of cloud and software services.
• SecondaryIterates — Europe and the US cloud: dependence at €264 billion a yearAccording to a recent study, this technological dependence is costing the European economy 264 billion euros a year. Beyond the simple financial cost, this dependence concerns the entire European digital ecosystem.