The European Commission is testing Matrix-based open source messaging to cut reliance on US software and build a sovereign, secure communications backbone across EU institutions.
The European Commission has begun trialling a European open-source communications system for internal use, marking a live institutional shift towards sovereign digital infrastructure and reduced reliance on US software.
Confirmed to Euractiv by a Commission spokesperson, the initiative centres on the Matrix protocol, an open-source, community-developed messaging standard run by a London-headquartered non-profit. The technology is being evaluated as the foundation for secure, interoperable communications across the Commission.
The move reflects growing concerns within European administrations about heavy dependency on American enterprise platforms and increasingly unreliable transatlantic relations, prompting efforts to adopt sovereign alternatives.
“As part of our efforts to use more sovereign digital solutions, the European Commission is preparing an internal communication solution based on the Matrix protocol,” the spokesperson said.
Matrix will initially act as a “complement and backup solution” rather than replace Microsoft Teams, which remains the Commission’s primary collaboration platform. Signal currently serves as a fallback tool, but officials consider it insufficiently flexible and not scalable for an organisation of the Commission’s size.
Matrix’s credibility is strengthened by existing deployments across Europe, including tools used by the French government, German healthcare providers and European armed forces.
Beyond internal messaging, the Commission is exploring the protocol as a common, secure layer to connect other EU institutions. A working link with the European Parliament is already in place, pointing to the potential for a unified, inter-institution communications stack built on open standards.
