Sovereign cloud solutions address the challenge that public administrations increasingly use cloud services while needing to preserve data sovereignty and legal compliance. Core requirements include data processing within the EU, protection against extraterritorial access by third countries and transparency regarding technical infrastructure and operators. Initiatives such as Gaia-X and Germany's Administrative Cloud Strategy aim to create trustworthy, interoperable cloud ecosystems for the public sector. Sovereign clouds can be operated by the state or provided by certified private operators, provided they meet defined sovereignty criteria. They are central to operating critical infrastructure and processing particularly sensitive administrative data.