At least 11 European countries have active contracts with Palantir, the US data analytics company whose software is used by defence ministries, intelligence services, police forces and public institutions, according to an investigation led by Follow the Money and involving journalists from 18 countries, including the Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS. The contracts documented by the investigation are worth more than €1.4 billion when the United Kingdom’s agreements are included, as governments increasingly scrutinise their dependence on a company closely linked to the US security establishment and President Donald Trump’s political agenda.
The investigation, based on dozens of public documents, provides a detailed account of Palantir’s penetration of European public institutions. The known value of contracts held by European countries and institutions is approximately €264 million, while the United Kingdom alone has signed agreements worth about €1.17 billion, equivalent to £992 million. The figures do not capture every contract: some institutions declined to provide information or disclose financial details.
Palantir’s reach also extends beyond countries that have signed their own agreements. In March 2025, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization acquired the company’s Maven Smart System, which has since become its central command system. The platform enables weapons systems operated by member countries to communicate more quickly and effectively during allied operations. It holds NATO’s highest security accreditation and operates across the alliance’s network, giving participating countries access to the software even if they do not have individual contracts with Palantir.
The company has secured defence contracts in eight European countries: Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Ukraine. Its software is also used by intelligence services in Denmark, France, the UK and Ukraine, while police forces and other public agencies in several countries rely on its products for operational and administrative work. Until 2023, Europol and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency spent €8.8 million on contracts with the company.
The scale of that presence has prompted concerns about strategic dependence, particularly because Palantir’s founders have openly prioritised American national interests. Founded in 2003, the company has long-standing links to US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon. Its chief executive and co-founder, Alex Karp, has defended its European operations as strategically necessary, despite describing the region’s commercial performance in disparaging terms.
“Growth there is shit,” Karp told shareholders on 3 August while celebrating what he described as an “extraordinary” quarter. He argued that Europe would be worse off without Palantir, claiming: “We support many institutions in Europe, including clandestine institutions. Without our products, they would have rampant terrorism and their immigration problem would be ten times greater.”
Palantir expects to generate more than $8 billion in revenue this year, making Europe a relatively small part of its business. Nevertheless, its government contracts have placed its technology inside critical public infrastructure. The company has faced allegations of involvement in serious human rights violations in Palestinian territories, Iran and operations conducted by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. Palantir has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses.
In Spain, the Defence Staff awarded Palantir a €16.5 million contract in October 2023 without a public tender to manage databases belonging to the Armed Forces Intelligence System. The agreement followed a €256,000 proof-of-concept contract in 2022. The precise military applications remain undisclosed. In a parliamentary response to Gerardo Pisarello, a deputy from the Sumar coalition, the Defence Ministry described the work as “data fusion and analysis” and said Palantir had no access to Spanish citizens’ data or to information, data or servers belonging to the ministry.
However, the Spanish government has told EL PAÍS that the contract will expire at the end of this year and will not be renewed. If the current government remains in office, a Spanish company will be tasked with developing an alternative based exclusively on domestic industry. The decision follows similar moves elsewhere in Europe to reduce reliance on the US provider.
In the Netherlands, the Defence Ministry uses Palantir’s Gotham and Foundry platforms in secret operations conducted by special forces. Follow the Money reported that company employees could access classified data, prompting the ministry to prohibit foreign Palantir personnel from entering its facilities. State Secretary Derk Boswijk subsequently promised parliament that the government would replace the system with a European alternative within two years, although his department had already spent months testing Maven with a view to purchasing it.
Denmark has also reconsidered its relationship with the company. Its national police extended Palantir’s software use to Greenland, according to the Danish newspaper Børsen, during a period when Trump was threatening to annex the island. After Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service designated the United States a threat, the military was instructed to abandon discussions about purchasing Maven and pursue a European alternative.
Other governments have announced or considered similar changes. In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in June that the country’s domestic intelligence services would not renew their existing contract, citing the need to avoid strategic dependence on a company so closely connected to another country’s government. In Germany, the head of the armed forces’ cyber and information command said in April that the military would not do business with Palantir, seeking to prevent company employees from accessing sensitive defence information. Norway’s national police have also decided not to renew their contract, which expires in 2027.
The United Kingdom remains Palantir’s largest market outside the United States. Between 2012 and 2025, the company signed contracts worth nearly £1 billion with the Ministry of Defence, the National Health Service, the nuclear agency, the financial regulator, police forces and intelligence bodies. In early October, the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, announced plans to replace Palantir in the NHS and the Defence Ministry with a domestic alternative. A parliamentary committee has also argued that the company can no longer be considered politically neutral following the public adoption of Karp’s controversial political positions.
Palantir maintains that its clients retain control over their information. In a statement provided to the investigative consortium, the company said: “It does not own its clients’ data, sell it or reuse it for other purposes: clients control what data is processed and how.” It added that its technology was designed to give institutions greater control over sensitive information, not less.
The company also defended its broader public-sector record, saying it had worked with democratically elected European governments and institutions since 2011 to expand hospital capacity, accelerate cancer diagnosis, resettle refugees safely, combat organised crime, protect victims of domestic violence and respond more quickly to floods and other emergencies. More than 20% of its employees work from European offices, it said, adding that it supports European businesses in aerospace, manufacturing and life sciences.
Critics argue that the issue extends beyond formal data ownership to the strategic priorities of the company supplying the technology. Elke Schwarz, professor of political theory at Queen Mary University of London, said dependence on Palantir was particularly problematic because of its close relationship with the White House and Trump’s “America First” agenda. She warned that the more institutions adopted interconnected systems, the more dependent and potentially vulnerable they could become.
Francesca Bria, an extraordinary professor at University College London and director of Eurostack, an initiative promoting European digital sovereignty, described Palantir’s growing presence in public institutions as dangerous. “The other side of data interconnectedness is becoming increasingly dependent and therefore more vulnerable,” Schwarz said.
In September, more than 120 non-governmental organisations, trade unions and institutions from 30 European countries called on governments to sever their ties with Palantir, citing concerns about dependency and alleged human rights violations. Bria argued that public scrutiny of procurement decisions was essential, even where national security limited the information governments could disclose.
“Companies serve the interests of shareholders, not citizens,” she said. “In Palantir’s case, this is compounded by the fact that it is so intertwined with the US government and its mission of American supremacy that it is no longer simply a commercial company. Palantir is part of Trump’s mission.”
Not all European governments are moving towards disengagement. Poland’s Defence Ministry signed a declaration of intent with Palantir in 2025 to develop artificial intelligence, while Lithuania has a memorandum of understanding with the company to create a centralised data management platform. In September, the presidents of both countries met Karp during the United Nations General Assembly in New York to discuss developing their countries into a hub for military technology to protect NATO’s eastern flank.
