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Interoperability at the Heart of Germany's Strategic Autonomy Policy

Submitted by egonnu on 21 May, 2026 - 10:16
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Press release : April 13th, 2026

The German federal government has approved the operational launch of a common national technology platform for German public services. This coherent system of standards appears to place interoperability at the heart of Germany's strategic autonomy policy with regards to I.T. This is an interesting approach that April welcomes, and hopes it will inspire the French strategy, in particularly to move towards the systemic use of open formats.

The Deutschland-Stack1 presents itself as a coherent system of repositories based on open standards and which is mandatory for all public services - federal, state and local. It covers a very broad spectrum of I.T use cases; file formats, storage, messaging, authentication, etc. It also offers a catalogue of development and administration tools.
The implementation of this technological foundation is part of an objective to create a 'sovereign digital infrastructure'. Its implementation is scheduled for 2028 and its application will be mandatory for all new projects.

Interoperability, a pillar for any digital sovereignty policy

Interoperability is guaranteed when it is based on open standards: public technical specifications, freely usable by everyone, without restriction or compensation, and maintained through an open decision-making process.

Interoperability guarantees government agencies the ability to access, exchange, and archive all data produced by themselves or by other agencies, regardless of the system or software used to generate it. In other words, an effective interoperability policy drastically reduces any risk of dependence on a particular technology and ensures, in the long term, the ability to access the data produced. It is also crucial for users to access public services, ensuring they do not have to rely on proprietary software in order to interact with government agencies.

The use of open standards is an integral part of the architectural principles announced by Deutschland-Stack. This therefore includes file formats of office documents.

The key issue of office productivity software : Germany makes way for the Open Document Format

The mandatory use of open formats for files has notably resulted in the exclusion of Microsoft's proprietary OOXML format, in favor of only the ODF (Open Document Format) and PDF/UA2.

This is, rightly so, one of the most notable impacts of the implementation of this common technological foundation.

Workstations, and office tools in general, are at the center of democratising free software, including at the heart of public services. The large dependency on Microsoft software, such as Office, represents a very major obstacle to this democratisation. To a large extent, this dependency stems from the use of the proprietary OOXML format, which the American company has, for years, tried to impose as a technological standard, even though it is not open.

While the requirement to use open standards does not automatically eliminate proprietary software, it removes a significant obstacle to the adoption of office software alternatives to Microsoft's currently dominant offerings. This requirement is therefore a crucial step in implementing a policy that prioritises free software, a cornerstone of any serious strategic autonomy policy.

Italo Vignoli, co-founder of The Document Foundation, which manages the LibreOffice suite, praised Germany's approach in a blog post and reiterated the importance of the issues surrounding open formats, as well as the challenges posed by the OOXML format.
He concluded his remarks as follows:

"ODF is the format of digital sovereignty, and of an open, transparent and interoperable public infrastructure. It was designed for a future in which no single vendor can control the documentary level of civilisation

OOXML is a format closely tied to Microsoft’s corporate history, translated into XML and ratified amid controversy. It was designed to ensure that the future remains compatible with Microsoft’s past, dramatically reducing freedom of choice for governments, organisations, businesses and individuals, and limiting ownership of their documents."

In France, we don't have Stack but we do have an General Interoperability Framework

In France, the core doctrine on interoperability is consolidated in a General Interoperability Framework 3, first published in 2009. It consists of a "framework of recommendations referencing the norms and standards which favour interoperability at the heart of I.T administration systems"4. This crucial document was updated in 2016 as version 2.0, which recommends the ODF format for office applications. The OOXML format is mentioned, with a status of "under observation", highlighting its "complexity" and "lack of openness." April had also praised the work carried out at the time by the previous interministerial directorates in charge of digital matters.5.

It is clear that since 2016, despite certain initiatives such as LaSuite Numérique recently made available to government agencies, the dependency on Microsoft office tools in agencies has barely decreased. The problem of file formats and the inertia caused by proprietary formats are undoubtedly contributing factors. It is time to remove the OOXML format from the standard and to implement stricter and broader application of the General Interoperability Framework.

However, it should only be the first step. As important as it is, the General Interoperability Framework is a long way from having the operational scope envisioned by Deutschland-Stack.

We will not be able to break free from such deeply entrenched structural dependencies without a comprehensive and cross-cutting policy. This includes, in particular, a proactive and ambitious policy regarding interoperability - something Germany seems to be moving towards - as well as genuine priority afforded to free software.

Let's hope that the recent announcement of an interdepartmental plan "for reduction of non-European dependencies", coordinated by the DINUM (Interdepartmental Digital Directorate), focusing notable on workstations and collaborative tools, accompanied by equivalent plans at the level of each ministry, will contribute to the implementation of a strategy in line with the challenges faced6

Defending and consolidating interoperable standards : a mission in the general interest

Public powers have a crucial role to play in defending and consolidating interoperability, particularly in a context where private economic powers are trying, for some years now, to impose their own technological standards in order to ensure their domination. From from being just one lever among others for greater strategic autonomy, contributing to the consolidation of interoperable standards is in fact an essential mission of general interest. For public administrations, it is not simply a matter of limiting their own dependencies, but rather of contributing, for the benefit of all, to the development of a common set of technological frameworks that are not dependent on the unilateral decision-making power of any single actor, private or otherwise. 7

If only because of the economic and political weight of Germany, Deutschland-Stack may produce significant tangible results in a relatively short timeframe. What if France, as well as other member states, or even the European Union as a whole, adopted a similar approach? For the vast majority of digital use cases, open interoperable standards already exist. All that it takes is the political will to actually implement them and resist those which are not.

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