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Netherlands: The government's privacy officer blocked a U.S. company from buying the cloud provider that runs Dutch digital identity. Now he is suspended. - [Petition] (actie.degoedezaak.org)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by randomname@scribe.disroot.org to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk

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A month or so ago, the Netherlands reportedly blocked a US company from buying the cloud provider that runs Dutch digital identity (there is a post about it in this community here).

The more recent news is that the Chief Privacy Officer of the Dutch government, who was behind this initiative, is about to lose his job.

...

For more than four months, Pieter van Oordt warned internally about the risks of the takeover. When these warnings were ignored, he brought the issue to the media, the Dutch Parliament, and the Cabinet. He showed that Parliament had received incomplete and misleading information and revealed that vulnerabilities in digital infrastructure had been shared with a U.S. company. His actions forced the Ministry of Economic Affairs to block the takeover.

Instead of protection, Van Oordt faced retaliation. He was excluded from meetings, his salary increase was blocked, and his request for protection under the European Whistleblower Directive was rejected, despite an expert report confirming that he should have been protected. He has been suspended, and his dismissal is mentioned in a written notice from the Attorney General on 22 May 2026.

The dismissal has not yet been implemented.

...

Someone started a petition (not me), I post this here as you may want to sign it (and maybe spread the word).

The petition calls on the European Parliament and the European Commission to act:

Protect Pieter van Oordt from an unlawful dismissal.
Ensure he can continue his work safely within the public sector.
Place digital sovereignty of vital infrastructure high on the European agenda.
Hold the Dutch government and the responsible ministries accountable.

[To read the English version of the linked text, you need to scroll down. It's below the Dutch version.]

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[-] mholiv@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

You’re describing old fashioned corruption. Not vassalage.

I do agree we should focus in corruption as one of many real issues. We shouldn’t muddy the waters by adding vassalage which just destroys any credibility such a movement would have.

[-] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It is different because it is more systemic than "normal" corruption. It is expected. It's on another level.

It is so widespread and old that it has become an informal rule, a tradition in this transatlantic relationship. And the end result can be described as nothing other than vassalage.

[-] mholiv@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Strong disagree. A vessel state would have given the U.S. Greenland, or accepted arbitrary tariffs, or allow US pink slime into the system.

What we see shows corruption not vassalage. It’s not just corruption with the benefits from the U.S. we see it to an equal level with Russia as well. We see it with private companies too.

European nations and the EU are independent nations and organizations. Not pawns on a chessboard like Cold War era Soviet theory might suggest.

Vassal states are just that. Vassals. Think vichy france or Manchukuo. Calling the EU or EU states vassals to the U.S. is just an insult to the suffering that happened under actual vassal states.

[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

It’s only systemic in that a lot of individuals, sometime in position of power, are unfortunately easy to corrupt and put their interests first. But the system itself still has some resistance against the US dominance.

this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026

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