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European Search Perspective, a Franco-German joint venture focused on sovereign search infrastructure, has urged European Union governments to establish national search indices as a strategic step toward strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty and reducing reliance on foreign technology providers.
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In open letters sent to heads of government across the EU, European Search Perspective outlined a coordinated framework for building sovereign search capabilities under European jurisdiction, warning that Europe’s current dependence on non-European search infrastructure poses serious economic and security risks.
Momentum Builds After Berlin Digital Sovereignty Summit
The proposal comes 100 days after the Digital Sovereignty Summit held in Berlin, where European leaders pledged to reduce critical digital dependencies and invest in sovereign infrastructure where feasible.
European Search Perspective argues that search infrastructure should be prioritized alongside energy grids and telecommunications networks, given its foundational role in democratic discourse, economic activity, and artificial intelligence systems.
Search Engines as Critical Economic Infrastructure
Search engines determine how citizens access information, how businesses are discovered, and how AI systems retrieve and validate knowledge. According to European Search Perspective, this makes search infrastructure a core pillar of Europe’s digital economy.
Currently, an estimated 99.5% of European search queries rely on indexing systems operated by just three non-European companies—two based in the United States accounting for roughly 96%, and one Russian provider handling about 3.5%.
This level of concentration, the group warns, exposes Europe to systemic vulnerabilities.
Risks of Overdependence on Foreign Providers
European Search Perspective cautions that disruptions to dominant search indexing infrastructure—whether caused by sanctions, regulatory disputes, export controls, or commercial decisions—could have severe consequences.
“Governments could lose critical analytical capabilities overnight, and entire economies could face disruption within days,” the organization noted, adding that a significant portion of Europe’s estimated €18 trillion GDP is directly tied to a search-index-based digital economy.
Blueprint for Sovereign Search Infrastructure
To address these risks, European Search Perspective proposes that each EU member state develop a sovereign search stack, comprising:
- A national search index hosted under European jurisdiction
- A national ranking algorithm aligned with local legal and democratic norms
- Infrastructure supporting both public search services and AI search grounding
Such systems, the group says, would ensure continuity, resilience, and strategic autonomy for Europe’s digital economy.
Search Sovereignty as a Strategic Imperative
“Without a sovereign search index, Europe does not control the gateway to its own digital economy,” said Wolfgang Oels, Director at European Search Perspective.
The organization is already in the process of building a sovereign search index for France and Germany and has offered to extend the initiative to other EU member states interested in developing national capabilities.
Toward a More Resilient European Digital Future
By treating search infrastructure as critical public infrastructure, European Search Perspective believes the EU can protect its economies, strengthen democratic resilience, and provide a secure foundation for next-generation AI and digital services.
The group has called on EU governments to act collectively, warning that continued inaction could leave Europe strategically exposed in an increasingly fragmented global digital landscape.
