Netherlands Faces Critical Dependency on US Cloud Services for Public Infrastructure

2026-01-27 data

Amsterdam, Tuesday, 27 January 2026.
Two-thirds of Dutch government, healthcare, and essential services rely on American cloud providers like Microsoft and Amazon, creating unprecedented vulnerabilities for national digital sovereignty. The dependency spans from patient portals accessing medical records through US servers to government agencies using Microsoft Teams for daily operations. With US laws allowing intelligence agencies to access European-stored data and recent sanctions affecting international institutions, experts warn that potential future restrictions could paralyze Dutch digital infrastructure within hours, affecting everything from benefit payments to public transportation systems.

Scope of Digital Dependency Revealed

A comprehensive investigation by Dutch broadcaster NOS analyzing 16,500 domain names used by government bodies, hospitals, schools, and essential organizations revealed the staggering extent of Netherlands’ reliance on American technology infrastructure [1]. The research, conducted in January 2026, found that 67% of these critical domain names are linked to at least one American cloud service, encompassing websites, email systems, and collaborative tools like Microsoft Teams [1]. This dependency extends far beyond simple website hosting, affecting everyday services from online shopping at Albert Heijn to patient portal access for medical records [1].

Healthcare and Government Infrastructure at Risk

The healthcare sector’s dependency on American cloud services presents particularly acute vulnerabilities for Dutch digital sovereignty. Of the 29 hospitals that rely on American servers for their patient portals, 28 cases specifically involve Microsoft infrastructure, with only one using Cloudflare [7]. Healthcare software provider Chipsoft confirmed that at least three hospitals have completely migrated their patient dossiers to Microsoft servers, describing this as hospitals’ own decision-making [2]. The October 2025 announcement that the Dutch Tax Office would also migrate its email processing to Microsoft, following similar moves by Parliament (both chambers), the Financial Markets Authority (AFM), and the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa), demonstrates how deeply embedded American technology has become in critical government functions [1][2].

Legal Framework Enabling US Data Access

Microsoft’s own transparency reports reveal the frequency of US government data requests, with American investigation and intelligence services requesting data stored outside the US 57 times in the second half of 2024 alone, including five requests involving companies [1][2][4]. These requests occur under what Microsoft describes as ‘exceptional circumstances involving suspected serious crimes’ [2]. However, the broad scope of US legislative authority means that Dutch organizations using American cloud services remain perpetually vulnerable to foreign government surveillance and potential service interruption [6].

Bronnen

digital sovereignty cloud dependency