Toespraak staatssecretaris Van Marum tijdens Digital Commons EDIC
Eddie van Marum hield een toespraak tijdens het Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (DC EDIC).
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to see all of you here today:
people from national ministries, European institutions, and the open-source community.
We may work in different countries, but we share the same goal:
making Europe digitally stronger in a world that is changing fast.
Many of you have been working towards this moment for years.
And today we finally get to say: it’s happening.
The EDIC Digital Commons is now becoming a reality.
With an office.
With staff.
With funding.
And most importantly: with all of us to support it.
But before we look ahead, let me be clear about what that mission is.
This is not about Europe closing its doors.
We will continue to work with global partners,
and we will continue to use market solutions where they work best.
But we also have a responsibility to safeguard what is essential.
In some areas Europe must be able to operate independently.
Especially where digital infrastructure is critical for our security,
our economy and public services.
Today, around 80% of the digital technologies we rely on come from outside Europe. That level of dependency is a risk we simply cannot ignore.
And that is why we launch the EDIC Digital Commons.
Because governments must be able to deliver services that are always available
for citizens and for businesses, even when geopolitics become unpredictable.
Now, about that name: Digital Commons.
It’s a well-chosen name.
But let’s be honest: if you asked people on the street, most of them wouldn’t know what it means.
And you might say: as long as we understand it, that’s enough.
But in my view, we should always remember who we are doing this for: for citizens. For people who rely on the simple promise that systems keep running, even when geopolitics become difficult.
So we should be able to explain it.
And the good news is: digital commons is not a new concept at all.
Once you know the story behind it, the name makes perfect sense.
It refers to a piece of land that farmers maintained together, centuries ago.
In Dutch we called it de meent.
In English it was called the commons.
It was the shared field where farmers could graze their cattle and produce the food their communities depended on.
Today, we apply that same idea to the digital world.
We are creating shared digital resources that we build, maintain and protect as Europeans.
And we are not starting from scratch.
We already have experience building digital public goods together.
Many of you know for example the tool: OpenDesk,
or in Dutch: Mijnbureau
or in French: La Suite.
Some of you are already using it in your daily work, and more people join every day.
Recently, the International Criminal Court decided to adopt this software.
With that decision they recognized the mission of EDIC:
when it comes to critical systems and sensitive data, we must be in control ourselves.
Because this is about far more than office tools.
It is about the digital foundations behind public services,
services that must always remain safe and reliable.
With the EDIC Digital Commons, we can scale up together.
We will work openly with the market where we can.
And stay independent where we must.
And we don’t have to do this alone.
Because the EDIC brings public and private investment together.
We need large companies that can deliver stability and capacity.
And we need smaller innovators who push technology forward.
Today, that balance is not always easy to achieve.
Some suppliers dominate the market,
while others find it hard to get a foothold.
The EDIC helps to open that playing field.
And we’re not just talking about it, we’re already moving.
Last month the governments of France and Germany signed a letter of intent.
Together with Mistral AI and SAP, they will build AI tools for public services.
Or in other words: AI that governments can use without worrying that control slips away from us.
That is what the EDIC Digital Commons is really about: a digital ecosystem that stays open where it works, and independent where it matters.
And I am proud that we mark this moment here in The Netherlands, together with our European partners.
We are deeply committed to the EDIC. It also connects to the history of this city, The Hague.
Because a few kilometres from here, there is a street called De Mient, named after the common land that people once used there.
And I like to think that the farmers who grazed their cows on that land would be proud of the cooperation we are beginning today.
So let us take the first step together, towards a more digitally sovereign Europe –
Thank you.