Digital Sovereignty: the TPI Case and Open Source in the Public Administration

The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to abandon the Microsoft Office suite to adopt the European open source platform OpenDesk marks a concrete step towards digital sovereignty, with concrete implications for the technological governance of European institutions and, in particular, for the Italian Public Administration.

The ICC case: software becomes an institutional issue

The International Criminal Court has recently initiated a structural migration from Microsoft 365 services to OpenDesk, an open source platform developed and coordinated by the German Centre for Digital Sovereignty known as ZenDiS, a company entirely controlled by the federal government. The choice does not stem from a mere economic or technical evaluation, but from the need to reduce a dependency considered strategically risky: that on a single non-European supplier that can suffer, or exercise, geopolitical pressures capable of affecting the operational continuity of the Court.

The turning point would have been the case of ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, placed by US authorities on the “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons” list, with consequent blocking of funds and related services. Among the consequences, there was the possibility that work accounts linked to US providers could be suspended or limited, affecting emails, documents, collaboration tools and access to digital archives crucial for investigations and judicial activity. For an organization that must be able to investigate even leaders of States allied to Washington, the prospect of an interruption of computer systems for reasons related to sanctions or political tensions was evaluated as incompatible with the principle of functional independence of the jurisdiction.

In this context, software is no longer a simple operational tool, but an institutional infrastructure whose governance affects the very ability of the Court to exercise its mandate in a neutral and continuous manner.

OpenDesk: what it is and why it interests institutions

OpenDesk is an integrated suite of office productivity and collaboration tools, conceived specifically for the European Public Administration and for entities that manage sensitive or mission-critical data. The platform combines open source components from eight European suppliers, including Collabora (online office), Nextcloud (file sharing and collaboration), Open-Xchange (email and groupware), Element (messaging), OpenProject (project management) and Univention (identity and directory management).

From a functional point of view, OpenDesk aims to cover the entire perimeter typically presided over by Microsoft 365: creation and editing of documents, spreadsheets and presentations, emails and calendars, chat and video conferences, project management, archiving and file sharing. What differentiates this suite from proprietary solutions is the combination of three factors:

Open source code
Infrastructure deployable under European jurisdiction.
Public governance, through ZenDiS, oriented towards sovereignty objectives rather than purely commercial logic.

For institutions like the ICC, this translates into more direct control over the technological chain: from choosing the data center to configuring security policies, up to the possibility of independent audits of code and data flows. In terms of risk management, it means reducing exposure to unilateral decisions by individual vendors and dampening the risk that geopolitical tensions translate into service interruptions.

Digital sovereignty: from abstract debate to concrete cases

The ICC case concretizes, in a particularly clear manner, a theme that has animated European debate for years: digital sovereignty as the ability of States and institutions to maintain effective control over data, infrastructures and digital platforms.

In the contributions of the IRPA it is emphasized how dependence on proprietary software and cloud services from large global providers poses not only technical questions, but questions of public law: who decides, ultimately, access to data and critical functions of the State? In a context characterized by complex international dynamics and tensions, the possibility that a third party could limit, condition or interrupt the use of fundamental tools for justice, health or public security constitutes a question of a political nature, as well as organizational.

Open source, especially if promoted and governed with a European approach, is seen as a tool to rebalance this relationship, helping to reduce dependencies on a few dominant suppliers.

Open source in PA: Italian regulatory framework

Italy has an advanced regulatory framework in favor of open source in Public Administration, recognized as best practice at European level but whose practical application still presents significant critical issues.

The Digital Administration Code (CAD) establishes the principle of mandatory preference for free software or open source software, imposing technical and economic comparisons between open solutions, reuse and proprietary solutions in acquisition procedures. The AgID Guidelines and the Three-Year Plan for IT in PA 2024-2026 reaffirm the centrality of interoperability, reuse and open standards, indicating open source as a strategic lever to reduce technological lock-ins and favor a more pluralistic supplier ecosystem. In parallel, initiatives such as Developers Italia and the reusable software catalog support the publication of code developed for PA and promote collaborative models inspired by the best practices of the open source community.

Despite this, the effective penetration of open source in PA core systems remains limited, with a strong prevalence of proprietary suites for personal productivity, email, collaboration and document management. This gap between norms and operational reality highlights how, despite the legal conditions existing, there is often a lack of an organic strategy and governance capable of translating regulatory principles into coherent choices on a large scale.

Benefits of open source in PA

The main benefits of adopting open source platforms in PA can be summarized in four areas:

Control and transparency: open code allows independent audits, facilitates verification of compliance with regulatory requirements (for example GDPR) and reduces the “black box” effect typical of many proprietary solutions.
Interoperability and reuse: the use of open standards and documented APIs makes it easier to integrate heterogeneous systems, avoiding fragmentation and duplications and favoring the reuse of components already developed for other administrations.
Lock-in reduction: the open source model makes it easier to change service providers or internalize skills, limiting the costs and risks associated with future migrations.
Local economic development: investing in open solutions means giving space to SMEs, system integrators and national or European skills, instead of concentrating public spending in a few large global players.

For a public decision-maker, these benefits translate into wider contractual maneuvering margins, greater organizational resilience and better conditions for building industrial supply chains linked to digital technology in a European key. From the point of view of ICT operators, the orientation towards structured open source creates new service opportunities in development, integration, maintenance and training, rather than mere license resale.

Operational challenges: migration, skills, organizational culture

The transition to ecosystems like OpenDesk involves significant technical and organizational challenges. Migration requires the transfer of large volumes of data, the reconfiguration of workflows and integration with pre-existing systems. It is essential to invest in structured training to maintain productivity and favor adoption, especially among users most involved with office automation tools. Furthermore, to replace consolidated platforms, it is essential to guarantee enterprise support with adequate Service Level Agreements (SLA), professional assistance, constant security updates and efficient vulnerability management. Finally, overcoming the perception of open source as a niche solution requires clear communication, concrete examples and objective data on reliability, costs and security, basing choices on evidence rather than impressions.

Best practice: Barcelona model

At European level, Barcelona is often cited as an example of digital policy oriented towards open source, especially in the management of civic platforms and tools for participation.

The city has invested in projects such as Decidim, an open platform for participatory processes, and has integrated open solutions in various areas of administration, creating an ecosystem where PA, universities, companies and developer communities collaborate continuously. Experiences like this show that open source adoption is not just a matter of licenses, but of organizational model: project governance, shared contributions, public roadmaps, reuse between entities, up to procurement logic.

For Italy, the reference to concrete cases like Barcelona, and now the ICC, can offer a comparative basis for designing realistic migration paths, with pilot phases, measurable objectives and direct involvement of end users.

Lessons for Italian PA

The International Criminal Court affair constitutes a relevant precedent that raises a fundamental question for European public administrations: is it sustainable that essential State functions depend on platforms over which Europe does not hold final control? If the answer is negative, as this case suggests, it is necessary to overcome sporadic adoption of open source solutions to adopt a structured strategy of digital sovereignty with medium-long term horizons.

For the Italian Public Administration, this translates into some key actions: identifying priority areas for the adoption of open platforms (for example collaboration, document management, participation), strengthening interoperability and code openness criteria in tenders and providing incentives for gradual migration.

A further step is the establishment or strengthening of Open Source Program Offices (OSPO) both at central and territorial level, capable of coordinating initiatives, supporting less structured entities and ensuring alignment between technological choices, regulatory constraints and sector policies. Finally, to consolidate credibility and reduce uncertainties, it is essential to constantly measure the impact of open source projects on costs, efficiency, security, user satisfaction and resolution times, thus feeding a virtuous circle of learning that can transform pioneering cases like that of the ICC into reference models for the future.

Guide for ICT decision-makers

For CIOs, ICT managers, public executives and technology suppliers, the ICC’s choice to adopt OpenDesk highlights that the crucial issue is not whether to choose open source, but what degree of control we want over the platforms that support essential State functions.

The set of legal factors (sovereignty, sanctions, jurisdiction), technological (architectures, security, interoperability) and economic (total cost of ownership, lock-in, local supply chains) makes open source not a simple ideal, but a concrete element to better balance risks. In this context, cases like OpenDesk and the ICC decision are not exceptions, but signals of a possible paradigm shift: from a market dominated by a few large proprietary suppliers towards a more hybrid reality, where open and public platforms coexist with private services in a more balanced way.

For Italy, a favorable regulatory framework and the multiplication of international examples represent a real opportunity to rethink its digital heritage in the name of sovereignty, operational continuity and competitiveness of the national ICT sector.

Sources: