As of: January 22, 2026 3:04 p.m
There is some criticism in the state of Schleswig-Holstein‘s path to digital independence. But the more threatening US President Trump’s geopolitics appear, the more the project becomes a role model.
There were times when Schleswig-Holstein’s digitization minister Dirk Schrödter (CDU) was ridiculed for his plan to make the country’s information technology (IT) independent of US companies. “Now everyone is basically asking, ‘How do you do that? What exactly did you do? Do you have a paper? Do you have a blueprint?'” says Schrödter.
Trump’s policies are fueling concerns in Europe
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The reason for the increasing interest in Schleswig-Holstein’s special path is growing concerns about an increasingly unreliable US policy that is directed against the interests of Europe. Most federal states rely on software from the US company Microsoft in their administrations. “If in doubt, a company based in the USA can, under pressure from the US government, be ordered to stop all services for administrations in Germany in order to exert political pressure,” explains Dirk Engling from the Chaos Computer Club, an association that deals with IT security. Schleswig-Holstein’s state administration is the first federal state to rely entirely on open source software that is independent of US companies.
Essentially, it is not a single company working on open source software, but rather an entire community of authorities, companies and “IT enthusiasts”. In contrast to proprietary software, the crucial source code is freely accessible. Everyone can work on it, develop it further, but also monitor each other. In addition, there are no license fees for this source code, as is the case with Microsoft products. The disadvantage is that the individual programs and components are not so well coordinated with one another. The state’s own IT service provider Dataport must first configure the software in Schleswig-Holstein to meet the requirements of the state administration.
Expert: Schleswig-Holstein is on the right track
The use of open source software was already announced in the coalition agreement of the Jamaica coalition in 2017 and was initially pushed forward by the later Environment and Digitalization Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens). In 2024, Schrödter, who had now become digitalization minister, presented the concrete implementation strategy. The biggest step to date followed last year: 44,000 mailboxes were transferred from the old Microsoft system to the new “Open-Xchange” system. The country now has control over this software and the stored data, no longer a company from the USA. “The approach is terrific,” says IT expert Engling, praising Schleswig-Holstein’s strategy.
Too little consideration during the changeover process?
But there were problems with the conversion process. Last September, prosecutors, judges and other judicial staff temporarily had problems accessing their emails and were unable to send or read arrest warrants and other important documents. Michael Burmeister from the New Association of Judges spoke of a situation that “in some areas endangers the rule of law.” The heads of the judiciary and law enforcement wrote an incendiary letter to Schröder. “You have to make sure that the users in the administration are not completely taken by surprise,” says computer expert Engling. In the end, people simply wanted their workplace to work – whether with open source solutions or other software. Kianusch Stender (SPD) repeatedly accuses Schröder of a lack of consideration for state employees. “It’s important that you don’t lose all the people who are actually convinced of the concept on the way to the change.” But that’s exactly what happened during the changeover in the last few months, says Stender.
Digital politician Kinausch Stender (SPD) is one of the digitalization minister’s harshest critics when it comes to the software changeover.
Judges keep up the pressure
The biggest errors have now been fixed, now it’s time to optimize the new software. “Timetables have been developed that we will continue to implement bit by bit in 2026,” promises Schrödter. Michael Burmeister from the New Judges’ Association is keeping up the pressure despite many improvements. “We do not yet have the functionalities that are desirable and necessary for the judiciary,” said Burmeister.
SH model for other federal states
Digitization Minister Dirk Schrödter (CDU) has been working on the country’s digital independence for years.
“This is probably one of the largest IT projects in the world in the area of administration,” enthuses Digitalization Minister Schrödter. IT expert Engling also sees the project as a role model. “There is now a blueprint that other countries can easily use in order to simply take these learning effects with them without shutting down the administration themselves for perhaps several days,” said Engling. He hopes that other federal states will now follow suit. If things go well, it is realistic to convert all German offices to open source software within the next five years.
Digitalization Minister Schrödter is already one step further. The open source operating system “Linux” is already running on one of his work laptops. It should be installed on all state computers by the end of the year and completely replace Microsoft’s “Windows” operating system.
