Overview
- The European Parliament, which switched defaults on Thursday, June 4, 2026, now routes address-bar searches in Firefox and Edge to the French search engine Qwant on in-house computers.
- Officials said the change was made to boost digital sovereignty and to better protect staff search data by favoring a service that markets itself as not tracking users.
- Staff and lawmakers can still visit other search sites or change their browser defaults, making the move operationally narrow but symbolically significant.
- The decision follows months of lawmaker pressure to reduce reliance on U.S. technology, including a November letter from 38 MEPs calling for phase-outs of foreign-made software, and it coincided with the European Commission preparing a tech‑sovereignty package.
- Qwant and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment and media outlets largely reproduced the initial reporting, leaving questions about contractual, technical, and wider procurement effects unanswered.