Europe must reduce its dependence on foreign-controlled databases, particularly those in the US, the European Parliament has heard. “Data sovereignty is not just a policy slogan, but an essential element of our research and innovation agenda,” said Signe Ratso, the European Commission’s chief negotiator for Horizon Europe association agreements, during a panel on research data held in the Parliament on October 1. As part of the EU’s strategy to strengthen data sovereignty, Ratso pointed to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Launched in 2015 and now uniting dozens of infrastructures, EOSC aims to give researchers seamless access to European data while ensuring providers retain ownership of their datasets. “EOSC will ensure data sovereignty in Europe,” said Klaus Tochtermann, president of the EOSC Association, also appearing on the panel.