Securing the digital sovereignty of the Free State

The Bavarian state parliament discussed and rejected a proposal from the SPD parliamentary group on the Free State's future IT strategy. The SPD called for new long-term contracts with Microsoft to be initially suspended and instead to rely more on European open source software. The plan included, among other things, an examination of the actual costs and risks of long-term Microsoft contracts, Bavaria joining the Center for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS) and a gradual switch by the state administration to the open source platform “openDesk” by 2030. The SPD justified the application by saying that it wanted to reduce digital dependencies on US companies, strengthen IT security and keep more added value in Bavaria. The emergency motion was rejected with 117 votes against. 44 MPs voted yes, there was one abstention from Oskar Atzinger (AfD).