US sanctions against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have led to discussions in the EU about finding alternatives to American IT services, The New York Times reports.
In February 2025, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan over his decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a result, Microsoft, which provided the court with its cloud services, blocked Khan's email. This caused serious concern among European politicians.
Some court employees have already switched to alternative email services, such as Proton from Switzerland. Meanwhile, Microsoft said it has already made policy changes to better protect customers in similar geopolitical situations. For example, when the US recently imposed sanctions on four ICC judges, their accounts were not blocked.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged that the Karim Khan incident had "added fuel to the fire" of general distrust between the US and Europe. During a visit to the Netherlands, he presented "sovereign solutions" for European customers - a set of tools focused on local data storage and legal protection.
Several EU governments have already begun looking for alternatives. Denmark is testing a replacement for Microsoft Office, Germany is phasing out the company's services in the Schleswig-Holstein region, and the European Commission is investing billions of euros in developing local data centers and artificial intelligence.
Experts believe that such incidents may lead to a review of the principles of cooperation with American IT companies in key industries: cloud computing, cybersecurity, and public administration.