As political tensions intensify under Trump’s second term, Amazon Web Services is drawing new boundaries in Europe. The company is launching the AWS European Sovereign Cloud (ESC)—a regionally operated infrastructure aimed at addressing Europe’s growing unease over American control of sensitive data.
AWS has structured the ESC under a locally managed parent company in Germany. The leadership, headed by Munich-based VP Kathrin Renz, consists entirely of EU citizens—no exceptions. There’s also an independent advisory board, again fully comprised of EU residents, tasked with overseeing operations. This setup is designed to ensure accountability and keep the ESC functionally and legally separate from AWS’s broader infrastructure. The whole arrangement is pretty airtight from a compliance standpoint.
Amazon says the ESC will function without reliance on U.S. infrastructure or personnel. Even core services such as Route 53 DNS and SSL certificate authorities will be hosted entirely within the EU. Moreover, ESC staff will maintain a local source code repository to keep the system running independently during geopolitical disruptions.
This move follows similar announcements from Microsoft and Google, who also rolled out new privacy-focused initiatives to win back confidence in the region. Yet AWS’s attempt to localize its cloud services doesn’t sidestep one uncomfortable truth: it still operates under U.S. jurisdiction. The CLOUD Act grants American authorities the right to demand access to any data controlled by U.S. firms—no matter where that data resides.
Meanwhile, frustration in Europe continues to grow. In May, MEP Aura Salla criticized Microsoft for complying with U.S. sanctions that blocked access to ICC emails, calling it a wake-up call for Europe’s digital sovereignty. With no mature domestic alternative yet in place, Europe remains caught between caution and necessity.
For now, AWS is buying time. But with the gap between legal frameworks and user expectations widening, sovereignty in the cloud may become less about architecture—and more about trust.
