Keyes, a Liège-based IT group of strategic importance, is up for sale. How does that sit with our ambition to become more digitally independent?
My toes curled when I read in *De Tijd* that Flanders and Wallonia are paving the way for a sale of Keyes, formerly known as NRB. The Liège-based IT group is largely owned by Ethias and is therefore indirectly firmly anchored with public shareholders. No buyer has yet been named, nor has a sale been decided. But the political will is there.
Politicians are constantly calling for digital sovereignty, less dependence on foreign powers and greater European clout. At the same time, they are considering relinquishing an important technological asset in Keyes. Together with the Flemish company Cegeka, Keyes offers a Belgian sovereign cloud for public authorities, defence and other operators of critical infrastructure, whereby data is stored exclusively in Belgian data centres and operational control remains in Belgian hands.
Foreign shareholders are not necessarily bad shareholders. But who will retain control in the long term over the systems on which our public services depend?
A Flemish precedent is still fresh in our minds. In 2025, Cipal Schaubroeck, a leading ICT supplier to Flemish local authorities, was sold to the Dutch company Total Specific Solutions – part of the Canadian firm Constellation Software – without much input from the municipalities, which were indirectly co-owners and clients. Digital infrastructure is the nervous system of the public sector. Civil affairs, social services, human resources administration and decision-making all rely on applications that must function every day. That is why this collaboration cannot simply be terminated.
The guarantee that personal data will remain on Belgian servers is not enough. Control, technological expertise, competition and the ability to actually switch suppliers also determine how sovereign a government is. A server on Belgian soil can perfectly well form part of a dependency over which decisions are taken elsewhere. Our energy history teaches us this too. Under the Verhofstadt government, the further takeover of Electrabel by the French company Suez received conditional political support. It later became clear that this also meant decision-making power was removed from our country.
The fact that Keyes cites a ‘sovereign cloud’ as an argument for placing the company under the wing of a strong partner is almost surreal. If we do not know who that partner is, what control remains with us and which guarantees are enforceable, we are simply handing over part of our sovereignty.
This is not a responsibility exclusive to Wallonia: Flanders is opening the door just as much. The willingness to sell strategic assets is clearly not a community-wide problem.
With 3,700 employees and a turnover of 645 million euros, Keyes is a significant enterprise. Why are we not exploring how we can utilise that capacity to build a stronger European technology player?
Before a sale process proceeds any further, a public strategic assessment should be on the table. What growth opportunities exist with Belgian or European capital seeking to invest in the long term? What level of control is essential? How do we ensure open standards, transferable data and genuine freedom of choice for public sector customers? And how can the public authorities that rely on these systems have a say before the deal is finalised?
Politicians cannot credibly warn against foreign dependence whilst at the same time treating strategic control as a negotiable budgetary windfall. A donkey does not stumble over the same stone twice, but Belgium is in danger of turning this into a policy model. Those who sell the keys today should not complain tomorrow that someone else is locking the door.
Bruno Segers is a prominent Belgian technology entrepreneur, executive, and board member. He was the country manager of Microsoft and became CEO of RealSoftware (today RealDolmen). Segers serves today as the chairman and acting CEO of Civios BV, a digital platform and ecosystem focused on sovereign, future-proof digital foundations for local municipal governments.
This opinion piece previously appeared in the financial newspaper *De Tijd*
