EU officials criticize backup messenger, France bets on Visio
Brussels launched a European messenger in case Microsoft services fail and drew harsh reviews from some employees. Paris is planning a full migration of 2.5 million civil servants.
The European Commission deployed the Element Pro tool in the summer of 2026 as a “sovereign backup” for Microsoft Teams. According to an internal memo described by Politico, and then by Spider's Web (opens in a new tab) and Cybernews (opens in a new tab), Element Pro does not replace Teams on a day-to-day basis. It is meant to ensure continuity of communication if Microsoft services stop working. The Commission runs the system on its own infrastructure, not in Microsoft's cloud.
Element Pro is developed by the British company Element on the open Matrix standard. The tool supports chat, audio and video calls, file sharing, and project channels. On an internal employee forum, several officials criticized the deployment. One wrote that he does not understand the tool's added value, another judged it in vulgar terms, and a third joked that with such an alternative the US would “immediately win the war” if it switched off its technologies. Another official defended the project on the grounds of data sovereignty.
Element CEO Matthew Hodgson admitted that there were initial problems and that the resistance stems from a change in habits, because the buttons are in different places. He reminded that solutions based on Matrix are also used by the UN and NATO.
France is planning a full switch. The government announced on 27 January 2026 that by 2027 the administration will give up Teams, Zoom, Webex, and GoTo Meeting in favor of Visio - an open-source service (with publicly available code) from the La Suite Numérique suite. The change is to cover about 2.5 million civil servants, and at the time of the announcement the tool had been tested for a year by about 40,000 people. According to Euronews (opens in a new tab), the savings are expected to reach up to 1 million euros annually for every 100,000 users. Minister for the Civil Service David Amiel justified the decision with the security and confidentiality of public communications.
In Poland, there is no central decision. As reported by CyberDefence24 (opens in a new tab), each institution chooses its own tools, and the Ministry of Digital Affairs provides access to Teams for all employees. Brussels' experience shows any company considering a switch of messenger that becoming independent from a single supplier requires time for the team to get used to it and acceptance of initial inconveniences.