nienke
15 de julio de 2025
As policymakers reach for the stars, they occasionally forget the humble infrastructure gremlins that keep the internet upright.
RIPE NCC is one of those gremlins—quiet, methodical, and unfazed by acronym inflation. It hands out the IP addresses, secures the routers, and generally makes sure that when you click a link, something actually happens.
Yet somehow, in all the EuroStack excitement, nobody gave RIPE a seat at the table. Time to fix that, before we end up with a sovereign cloud and no idea where the traffic is going.
The EuroStack initiative is Europe’s big push to stop relying on foreign digital infrastructure and start building its own—from data storage to cloud computing, and from secure chips to software built on European values. But amidst the flurry of acronyms and ambitious frameworks, one key player has been oddly absent from the conversation: RIPE NCC.
That may not sound exciting at first blush. But if you care about the internet continuing to function in Europe without being at the mercy of the United States or China, RIPE NCC’s work becomes very relevant indeed.
Although RIPE NCC is not officially listed as part of EuroStack, it already performs critical tasks that align closely with the initiative’s goals. And with a bit more collaboration, it could play a pivotal role in strengthening Europe’s internet backbone.
Every device that connects to the internet—your laptop, phone, fridge, pacemaker—needs an IP address, a bit like a postal address for data. RIPE NCC is responsible for handing out those addresses across Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
For years, the world has been running out of the old style of addresses (IPv4), which is still heavily used by older infrastructure and often managed by companies outside the EU. IPv6 is the newer, larger, and more secure format. It also aligns far better with Europe’s goals of digital sovereignty.
So far, the rollout of IPv6 has been patchy. But with EuroStack’s EuroConnect layer aiming for sovereign and future-proof connectivity, RIPE NCC’s technical expertise could help push IPv6 adoption across all of Europe—especially among lagging regions or providers. More IPv6 means less reliance on non-European registries and better performance for emerging technologies.
RIPE NCC can help future-proof Europe's internet plumbing so we are not using decades-old tech held together by duct tape and foreign patents.
The internet does not run on cables alone—it runs on trust. When data travels across networks, it follows instructions from routing systems. But these systems can be tricked. Malicious actors can hijack routes, intercept data, or misdirect traffic altogether.
RIPE NCC helps manage the routing system in Europe using tools like RPKI, which verifies that internet routes are legitimate. It also assigns autonomous system numbers (ASNs)—think of these as unique identifiers for large networks, like internet service providers (ISPs).
This aligns perfectly with EuroStack’s cybersecurity goals—especially in the face of what has been described as Europe’s "cybersecurity Swiss cheese" problem: lots of holes, some of them deliberate, many of them very old.
Potential collaboration:
If someone tries to tamper with Europe's internet traffic, RIPE NCC has the map, the locks, and the alarms.
EuroStack’s DataCommons layer wants to enable European organisations to share and process data responsibly, in a way that complies with GDPR and does not depend on U.S. or Chinese cloud platforms.
RIPE NCC already collects large volumes of anonymised internet traffic data through its Atlas and RIS platforms. These could help train artificial intelligence models without needing to borrow data from non-European sources.
In short, Europe could build AI tools that reflect European internet behaviour, values, and usage patterns—without needing to give Silicon Valley a peek.
It keeps data flows compliant with GDPR, which is no small feat.
Unlike many tech organisations, RIPE NCC is not just a registry—it is a neutral, multi-stakeholder body. It works with governments, civil society, network operators, and the private sector to make sure the internet remains functional and fair.
EuroStack’s governance model aspires to be open and decentralised. Here, RIPE’s long-standing work on inclusive governance could serve as a model. It could also help identify and certify European-first infrastructure providers, so that when public money is spent on digital infrastructure, it actually supports European resilience.
RIPE knows how to build governance models that work. EuroStack could learn from that.
Beneath every bit of digital infrastructure is a pile of physical hardware—routers, switches, chips, servers—and much of it depends on critical raw materials controlled by other nations.
While EuroStack includes initiatives like EuroChips and Raw Materials to reduce that dependency, RIPE NCC’s practical knowledge of network deployments could help inform where the pressure points are. For example, it could help identify which parts of the hardware stack are most urgent to localise, based on actual deployment data from across Europe.
RIPE can help the EU figure out which bits of the internet need rebuilding from scratch to avoid being held hostage by foreign suppliers.
That is a good question. RIPE NCC is already doing many of the things EuroStack aspires to do. Its absence from the official EuroStack documentation suggests that some coordination is still missing.
This is not entirely surprising—EuroStack is still taking shape, and its documentation is more strategic vision than technical blueprint. But there is real value in bringing in experienced infrastructure bodies like RIPE.
Two practical next steps:
If Europe wants a sovereign digital infrastructure that is not dependent on Big Tech or foreign surveillance, it needs to look beyond cloud hype and flashy AI models. It needs the people who understand how the internet actually works at the protocol level.
RIPE NCC is one of those rare organisations with those people.
Leaving them out of the EuroStack party would be like building a national railway system and forgetting to invite the people who lay the tracks.
It is not too late to hand them a ticket.
