The European Parliament will switch to French search engine Qwant from Google, underscoring Europe's push to reduce its reliance on U.S. technology in favour of local alternatives. The European Commission will later announce measures on chips, cloud computing services and AI as part of its "Buy and Use European" drive. The change will be applied automatically, though users will still be able to select alternative search engines.
"From 4 June 2026, Qwant will become the default search engine on the European Parliament's Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox browsers," a Parliament spokesperson said in an email.
"It is part of a larger framework of actions aimed at reducing EP reliance on non-EU digital tools and promoting European-based, privacy-focused services," the spokesperson said.
The Parliament has 720 lawmakers, along with thousands of assistants and administrative staff. Euractiv first reported the switch.
The search-engine switch comes as Brussels doubles down on its push for “tech sovereignty.” The European Commission will on Wednesday unveil its long-awaited tech sovereignty package aimed at reducing dependence on foreign technology providers and boosting European alternatives.
The email described Qwant as a “privacy-focused European search engine” designed to avoid tracking users or collecting personal data. Founded in 2013, Qwant markets itself as a privacy-first alternative to Google.
Searches conducted through the address bar in Firefox and Edge browsers will automatically be routed through Qwant, although lawmakers will remain free to use competing search engines or change their default settings.
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