Europe's Digital Dependency: A Wake-Up Call After Microsoft Outage

A major outage of Microsoft's Outlook email service on Friday, November 13, paralyzed professional activities across Europe, highlighting the continent's heavy dependence on American digital giants. The disruption affected workers from civil servants to hospital communications and small businesses, with many reporting complete work stoppages. Experts view the incident as a political wake-up call, noting that American companies control nearly 70% of Europe's cloud market. The European Union has proposed legislation to boost investment in critical tech sectors like semiconductors and AI, but experts warn that Europe will likely remain dependent on American and Asian tools for the next 10 to 20 years.