For Christmas, the Commission awarded Amazon a contract for cloud services worth half a billion euros

Question for written answer E-001982/2025 to the Commission Rule 144 Virginie Joron (PfE), Julien Sanchez (PfE) Subject: For Christmas, the Commission awarded Amazon a contract for cloud services worth half a billion euros On 20 August 2024, in Dresden, Ursula von der Leyen stated that ‘the global race for the technologies of tomorrow is on. And I want Europe to really switch gear’. Yet, strangely, on 17 December that same year she awarded a contract with an estimated value of EUR 550 million excluding VAT to Amazon instead of to a European supplier1. The Commission is bound to the contract – at the amount agreed – for six years. The Commission’s Directorate-General for Digital Services also manages joint calls for IT tenders with EU agencies2. On 7 May 2025, Parliament adopted a budget amendment encouraging EU agencies to give preference to European companies in their public procurement procedures3. National Rally MEPs Julien Sanchez and Virginie Joron4 tabled the amendment. 1. Did the Commission check whether there was an EU company that could provide these cloud services before awarding Amazon this contract, which could be worth over EUR 500 million? 2. What steps will the Commission take to respect the vote in favour of giving preference to European companies in EU agencies’ public procurement procedures? 3. What proportion of technology services did the Commission buy from EU companies via its public procurement procedures in 2024? Submitted:...