The Cloud initiative Gaia-X is intended to reduce Europe's dependence on US technology groups. In the federal government, Gaia-X is therefore already being seen in the early development phase as a competitor to the cloud products of Google, Amazon and Microsoft ...in the last few days. When presenting the initiative a year ago, Research Minister Anja Karliczek said that "the power over Data in Europe should no longer be in the hands of a few international corporations."
It was therefore all the more surprising when it was announced in November 2020 that Google, Microsoft and Amazon were among the founding members of the Gaia-X Foundation AISBL. In total, the list of founders includes 160 companies and associations, including various cloud services but also later users of the infrastructure such as Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank. The project is led by a Belgian foundation that manages the coordination and activities of the members.
High acceptance for US corporations
The high level of acceptance of the US corporations within the Gaia-X initiative was also evident during the conference in mid-November, where Amazon, Google and Microsoft were given considerably more speaking time than many representatives of European Cloud Hosting. AWS and Microsoft took advantage of this opportunity to present the innovative power of the companies, especially Amazon's Cloud Department.
Microsoft manager Casper Klynge explains that without the most advanced technology and the "world's wealth of data", the European economy will suffer. The group's message is clear: without the major US cloud providers, a project like Gaia-X is not possible, according to Microsoft.
Organisational structure to ensure European control
Despite Microsoft's offensive statement, the Gaia-X Foundation does not see the corporations' membership as a problem. According to those responsible, the organizational structure ensures that control over the European Cloud will always remain in Europe, even with the participation of American and Asian groups.
In concrete terms, this is to be ensured by ensuring that only members with headquarters within the European Union (EU) can nominate candidates for the board. Furthermore, only the board of directors may appoint members of the board, who will then decide on the rules and technical standards of the Gaia-X services.
Focus on user information.
Some experts are waiting in the wings, despite the risks posed by the involvement of non-EU companies. In an interview with c't magazine, open source developer and cloud expert Kurt Garloff of the Gaia-X sub-project "Sovereign Cloud Stack" said that while uploading non-personal, non-critical data to US clouds is perfectly legitimate, the online catalog of Gaia-X services must clearly list privacy and control deficits of non-European providers. This, according to Garloff, is to ensure that "users know what they're getting into."
Opposition to strict data protection from Europe?
It is currently unclear whether the planned data protection and control options can be fully implemented. This is because the decisive criteria have not yet been worked out in detail. In addition, the plans could fail due to resistance from individual Gaia-X members. Representatives of the open source scene in particular want to enforce strict rules, but some companies that could have been working with US cloud services for a long time are trying to block them. Garloff therefore predicts "strong lobbying forces."
High minimum requirements for participation in Gaia-X
Currently, the concept for providers of Gaia-X services provides for high minimum standards that must be met in order to be included in the catalogue. This includes, among other things, the possibility for the customer to opt for the storage of his data within the EU. Providers must also hold various certificates and indicate when non-European legal bases apply. According to Garloff, the US groups could meet these conditions "relatively quickly".
According to a report on the policy portal Euractiv, the two French open source entrepreneurs Stefane Fermigier and Sven Franck are much more critical of the participation of US cloud services, according to whom Gaia-X could develop into a "Trojan horse" for US companies. In principle, according to the critics, it is even possible that the funds of the Gaia-X project could be used to finance American and Asian companies and that the project could become a "data protection fig leaf" for these corporations.
