On Wednesday, at the request of Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) Ben Polidori, MPs discussed digital sovereignty in the Chamber and how the lack of alternatives for many digital services means that technical failures or cyberattacks could carry serious consequences for the country.
Citizens, dependent as they are on such services, would be left exposed to these events.
Open source offers a possible way forward, since such software is more transparent, with the original code publicly accessible.
MPs were largely in agreement on these points during the debate.
The country maintains its data sovereignty by keeping control in its own hands, Digitalisation Minister Stéphanie Obertin told MPs. The "Once Only" principle, she pointed out, was a key step in that regard.
The principle stipulates that an individual need only submit documents to the State once, rather than having to send the same files to a range of different ministries.
Open-source solutions, Obertin added, were already in use by the State in many areas, notably in communication services such as LuxChat4Gov, and through the Peppol network used for submitting invoices to the State.
According to the minister, there are 65,000 accounts on LuxChat4Gov, 8,000 of which belong to users within municipalities.
MP Sven Clement for the Pirate Party asked why the government’s chat service was not also being used by teachers.
His attention had been drawn to the fact that within Teams – a product of US-based company Microsoft – every teacher or pupil could see the names, and the class groups, of other pupils and teachers.
The Digitalisation Minister did not give a direct answer to Clement’s question. She noted that while various options could be made available, the intention was to leave the choice of what to use up to the individuals themselves.
On top of that, she added, topics such as coding and cybersecurity are being addressed in the classroom, which ensures that pupils become familiar with alternative options.
Speaking more broadly about digital sovereignty in the country, Obertin stated that security, independence, and trust had to be guaranteed in the long term.
Economy Minister Lex Delles, for his part, reiterated the availability of support measures designed to help businesses safeguard cybersecurity while remaining as independent as possible.
The government, he noted, was fully aware that digital sovereignty represented a consistent challenge.
