Politics and Open Science: How the European Open Science Cloud became reality (the untold story).

It is fair to say—note the word FAIR here—that realizing the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is now part and parcel of the European data science policy [1]. In particular since EOSC will be from 2021 in the hands of the independent EOSC association and thus potentially way out of the so-called “Brussels Bubble”.
This article will document the whole story of how EOSC emerged in this “bubble” as one of the policy intentions to foster Open Science in Europe. In addition, it will describe some of the typical, non-rational roadblocks on the way to implement EOSC. The article will also argue that the only way Europe can take care of its research data in a way that fits the European specificities fully, is by supporting EOSC.