Digital Sovereignty: When the Federal Council Would Be Faster Than Its PDFs...

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(A sharply critical commentary based on the HTML article and the official Federal Council report.) by [email protected]

Introduction

The Federal Council finally published its report on Digital Sovereignty on November 26, 2025 -- a document that has matured as long as a Valais raclette, but unfortunately didn't turn out quite as flavorful.
Anyone thinking: "About time!" -- Yes, it was. The 2022 motion already spoke of urgent, swift, and important. Three words that are apparently translated differently in the Federal Palace: leisurely, later, we're still reviewing that.

Source: see Federal Council report fileciteturn0file1 and HTML article from Clarus.News fileciteturn0file0.

Contradictions in the Report -- or: Digital Sovereignty à la Swiss Compromise

The report defines digital sovereignty as the state's ability to remain in control and able to act in the digital space.
So far so good. Yet while the text constantly refers to independence, one can hardly find concrete measures that truly fulfill this claim. Particularly striking:

  • A working group is now supposed to further review what was reviewed.
    (Sounds like: "We need a meeting about the last meeting.")

  • Timelines are almost completely missing, although the motion explicitly demanded one.
    The passage is politely circumvented in the PDF -- presumably so nobody notices that nothing got faster.

  • Costs? What costs?
    The report doesn't mention them. No budget figures, no forecasts, no price range.
    Digital sovereignty is apparently like Swiss snowfall: Just let yourself be surprised!

What May Sovereignty Cost?

Officially: no information.
Unofficially: Everything we don't want to afford.

Anyone demanding digital independence must also say what it's worth. One's own infrastructure, open-source strategies, secure data spaces -- these don't come free of charge.
Yet the report prefers to ignore financial questions like a teenager ignores their unread WhatsApp messages.

Speed, Please! -- Switzerland Doesn't Deserve WiFi at Snail's Pace

In the HTML article, it's striking how much future vision is formulated -- Short-term, Medium-term, Long-term -- but rarely have empty promises been packaged so elegantly as here:

"Long-term (10-20 years): Structural shift toward hybrid technology ecosystems..."

10-20 years?
In terms of technological leaps, that's three eras and five new smartphone ports.
If we continue planning this way, we'll still be running around with USB-C in 2045 wondering why Europe is ahead of us.

Humorous Assessment -- Following Your Prompt

Switzerland wants to be sovereign, but without stress.
We want digital independence, but please only after the coffee break.
We want international cooperation -- as long as it doesn't get too fast for us.

In between stands the new working group, which sounds like:
"IDAG -- Interdepartmental Working Group for Fundamentals."
A committee that will surely soon tell us that they continue to review everything, but exclude nothing, but also prioritize nothing, because everything is important.

Bravo.

Link to Original Article

More context is available here -- and yes, definitely read it:
https://clarus.news/de/Post/bundesrat-verabschiedet-bericht-zur-digitalen-souveraenitaet-der-schweiz-20251126

Conclusion

The report is important.
The report is necessary.
But the report is above all one thing: too late, too vague, and too timid.

Digital sovereignty should not be a poetic future vision, but a strategic reality that begins today -- not only after the working group has held its third workshop.

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