European Parliament sets Qwant as default search engine, replacing Google
Anyone inside the European Parliament now searches the web through Qwant by default, not Google, as of June 4. The French engine runs on EU servers with no behavioral tracking. Staff can still switch back. Watch whether other EU institutions follow the sovereignty line.
As of June 4, anyone working inside the European Parliament who opens a browser is now searching through Qwant by default instead of Google. The institution has set the French engine as the standard option on its Microsoft Edge $MSFT and Mozilla Firefox browsers, affecting 720 lawmakers along with thousands of assistants and administrative staff. The Parliament frames the move as part of its commitment to digital sovereignty and the protection of users' personal data. Qwant, founded in France in 2011, is hosted in Europe and does not use third-party cookies, trackers, or behavioral targeting. It has long relied on Microsoft's Bing index for results, but is now co-developing its own European index, called Staan, together with the German engine Ecosia. The switch is not locked in: staff can still set their default back to Google, owned by Alphabet $GOOGL, or any other engine. Qwant is simply the out-of-the-box choice. The timing lines up with a wider European push. The change lands as the European Commission rolls out a tech sovereignty package aimed at loosening the bloc's dependence on American technology providers and strengthening homegrown alternatives. What to watch: whether other EU institutions, including the Council and the Commission's own services, adopt the same default, and whether Qwant's in-house Staan index can stand on its own without Bing behind it.