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The European Commission is reportedly testing Element Pro, a self-hosted alternative to Microsoft Teams, but unnamed officials criticized the software in internal comments described by news outlets. The remarks—including a warning that the US would “instantly win the war” if Europe lost access to technology—are second-hand and do not establish that Commission staff broadly oppose the trial or that the EU has decided to replace Teams.
What is the EU’s reported Teams alternative?
The alternative named in reporting is Element Pro. Windows Latest described it as a self-hosted backup for Teams that the European Commission had been testing since summer 2026. In this context, “self-hosted” means the organization runs the service on its own infrastructure rather than relying entirely on a vendor’s hosted service. The report does not establish that the Commission has adopted Element Pro or plans to make it a full replacement.
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The trial and staff comments have not been confirmed in an official Commission announcement located in the reporting cited here. The original POLITICO material could not be independently accessed in the targeted search; Windows Latest and Brussels Signal are the available reports of the internal exchanges. The officials were anonymous, and the underlying posts were not available in the searched sources.
What did the reported staff comments say?
Windows Latest and Brussels Signal attributed sharp reactions to unnamed Commission officials. One reportedly called Element Pro “absolute sh*t.” Another warned that the US would “instantly win the war” if it cut the EU off from technology. Those are anonymous comments relayed by outlets, not named public statements or evidence of an institutional consensus.
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A separate reported comment defended self-hosting by saying that with Teams, “all we have is a guarantee that Microslop will not peek inside.” That is an individual’s characterization of Teams, not a technical audit or a settled legal finding about Microsoft’s access to customer content. Element CEO Matthew Hodgson was quoted by Windows Latest as saying: “Change is always painful, particularly if it’s a switch from a much-used program like Teams.”
Why consider self-hosting if staff dislike the alternative?
Control over where a service is hosted and administered can matter to a public institution seeking greater operational independence. But hosting location is only one part of digital sovereignty. It does not, by itself, answer which laws apply, how access is controlled, how the service is secured, or whether it works as well as the tools staff already use.
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The reported exchange illustrates that tension: the rationale for more institutional control is distinct from whether a product is usable and mature enough for everyday work. The cited reporting does not provide an independent security assessment or a matched comparison of Element Pro and Teams, so it cannot establish which service is safer, more private, or better for staff.
Is the Commission replacing Teams?
The available reports describe a test of Element Pro as a backup, not a completed migration or a formal replacement program. They do not establish that the pilot has ended, expanded, or become an institution-wide decision. It is therefore more accurate to describe this as a reported Commission trial than as the EU escaping Teams.
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There is separate competition-policy context: in September 2023, the European Commission issued Microsoft a Statement of Objections, saying it had preliminarily found that bundling Teams with Office products may breach EU competition rules. A Statement of Objections is a preliminary position, not a final finding. The cited material does not show that this competition matter caused the reported Element Pro test.
How does France’s video-conferencing plan differ?
France’s plan is a separate national government initiative, not the Commission’s reported Element Pro trial. The Associated Press reported on 2 February 2026 that France planned to move 2.5 million civil servants away from US video-conferencing providers, including Teams, to the French service Visio by 2027. That example reflects a broader public-sector interest in alternatives, but it does not confirm the Commission’s plans or the suitability of Element Pro.
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What can—and can’t—be concluded about Element Pro?
The reporting offers a glimpse of competing priorities, not enough evidence for a product verdict. It does not provide named adoption figures, user-satisfaction measurements, independent performance tests, comparative security audits, or a detailed assessment of interoperability and support. Windows Latest reported that its own test measured Teams at 963 MB of RAM when idle and up to 2 GB during calls; those are the outlet’s figures, not an official Commission finding or a matched test against Element Pro.
For now, the defensible takeaway is narrow: news outlets report that the Commission tested Element Pro as a self-hosted Teams backup and that anonymous officials expressed strong reservations in internal comments. Neither those comments nor the reported sovereignty rationale proves that the service is a successful replacement—or that Commission staff as a whole reject it.
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