2026-01-29
Drupal4Gov EU: why I organised Europe's first Drupal for Government conference
On 29 January 2026, the first Drupal for Government conference in Europe took place at the European Commission in Brussels. 150 attendees, a director from DIGIT, and a clear message: Europe needs to move faster on digital independence.
In January 2026, I organised Drupal4Gov EU: the first Drupal for Government conference in Europe. This is the story of why, and what happened.
Why Europe needed this
There's already a Drupal for Government conference in the United States. Europe had nothing comparable, despite the fact that many European governments and EU institutions actively use Drupal. With the growing push for digital sovereignty and independence, that gap felt increasingly wrong.
My own background made this personal. I've worked at European and national institutions where Drupal was at the core of the digital infrastructure. I knew the community was there. It just needed a gathering point.
How it came together
The European Commission was an early and enthusiastic partner. Monika Vladimirova from the EC helped co-organise the event and provided the venue - a significant signal of institutional support.
We didn't do it alone. The Belgian, French, and Austrian Drupal communities all contributed to making it happen. It was a genuinely collaborative effort across borders, which felt right for a conference about European digital infrastructure.
We started with a venue that held 100 people. It sold out. We moved to a bigger location. In the end, approximately 150 people attended.
The day itself
I opened the conference with a presentation that set the tone: Europe is still heavily dependent on US hyperscalers and US technology. That's a risk, and it's something we need to actively push back on. Not as anti-American sentiment, but as a pragmatic argument for resilience and self-determination.
The new director of DIGIT - the European Commission's digital services department - opened the event. Someone who oversees billions in digital projects showing up to a community conference is not nothing. It signals that this conversation matters at the highest levels.
The session that stood out most for me was a lunchtime talk from Typo3 about digital sovereignty. A strong, well-argued presentation that complemented what I'd said in my opening notes and showed that this concern crosses CMS boundaries.
What I hope people took away
One clear message: we need to push harder for European digital independence. The reliance on US cloud infrastructure, US platforms, and US technology stacks is a vulnerability. Open-source software in general, and Drupal in particular, is part of the answer. But only if we're intentional about it.
What's next
We're doing it again. Drupal4Gov EU will return in January 2027, during European Open Source Week, the week before FOSDEM. Same spirit, same ambition, bigger conversations.
If you work in or around government technology in Europe, this is your conference. Watch drupal4gov.eu for updates.
