The federal administration relies heavily on products from the US tech company. France, on the other hand, is becoming independent – and even saving tax money in the process.
Despite plans to make Germany more digitally independent of the USA, federal spending on licenses from the US software company Microsoft increased again last year. The federal administration and federal grant recipients paid 481.4 million euros to Microsoft in 2025, according to the answer to a written question from the Green Party member of the Bundestag Rebecca Lenhard, which was first reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung dossier reported.
The number is significantly higher than in previous years. And in its response, the Federal Ministry for Digital also mentions higher expenditure for 2023 and 2024 than the federal government had stated at the time in response to written questions from the Left. The Digital Ministry justifies this in its current answer by saying that more facilities have now been taken into account.
The increased spending in 2025 may, but does not necessarily mean that the federal government will use more Microsoft services. The reason for this could also be price increases. In addition, the number only reflects a portion of the sums that the public sector pays to Microsoft. There are no comprehensive figures on what software states and municipalities use and what amounts are due for it. It is not fully known how dependent the public sector is on the USA in digital terms.
But one thing is clear: a framework agreement between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Microsoft is valid until May 2028. It is intended to make it easier for public institutions at federal, state and local levels to use products from the US group.
France is more sovereign
Other countries are further ahead: In France, various authorities and ministries already use their own open source software for administration. Currently will have its own video conference programalso on an open source basis, rolled out for public institutions. It is intended to replace previous solutions from Microsoft, Zoom or Cisco.
It’s also about money: switching to the new video conferencing software is expected to save 1 million euros per 100,000 users – per year.
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