In early 2025, tensions arose when the United States imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague. As a result, Microsoft, a major U.S.-based tech company, restricted access to its services for the ICC’s chief prosecutor, including email. This incident made the Dutch government realize how reliant it was on American technology for essential government functions. In response, the Netherlands launched a project known as DAWO, which stands for Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid, or “Digital Autonomous Work Environment for the Government.” The initiative, approved by an interministerial commission in July 2025, aims to reduce this dependency by developing a government-specific digital environment that is independent of foreign control. The first phase of DAWO is being tested by eight Dutch municipalities through the Dutch Municipalities Association. These municipalities are using older, discarded laptops that run on NixOS, an open-source operating system. NixOS was chosen because it is a Dutch-led project and not controlled by any commercial company. Other open-source systems like openSUSE and Fedora were excluded due to their ties to American companies such as IBM. The project aims to develop a stable version of DAWO by 2027, offering a secure and self-reliant digital environment for government use. The Netherlands is not alone in this effort. Several European countries have already started moving away from U.S.-based software. Denmark, for example, stopped using Windows in 2025, and both France and Switzerland began transitioning in early 2026. In Switzerland, the government plans to migrate 3,000 positions to open-source software by the end of 2027. In France, the National Digital Council (DINUM) is leading efforts to phase out Windows, with some public administrations like Urssaf already choosing Linux as their primary operating system. While these efforts show progress, challenges remain. According to Politico, Europe as a whole still heavily relies on major American tech platforms, as few alternatives exist on a comparable scale. In the Netherlands, the current DAWO project is using laptops that were previously scheduled for disposal, highlighting the practical hurdles of transitioning to new systems. Despite these difficulties, the movement toward digital independence continues to gain momentum across Europe.