European-based SUSE devoted much of the annual SUSECON event to its sovereignty-focused pitch - even as reports swirl that its majority stakeholder is exploring a $6 billion sale which could land the Linux vendor in American hands. In March, Swedish private equity biz EQT – which spun out SUSE from US group Micro Focus in 2018 for $2.5 billion – reportedly commissioned Arma Partners to examine the open source provider's options. This is still at the early stages, but any sale to a US buyer would put a dent in SUSE's European digital sovereignty credentials. Europe's cloud challenge: Building an Airbus for the digital age READ MORE The Register asked SUSE CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen at SUSECON what sovereignty means given the potential acquisition. "SUSE, in its nature, is a European company. We are registered in Europe, everything is in Europe. If we get acquired by another shareholder, even if the shareholder would be American, we are still a European company with shareholders in America.…