+ On 6 October, 32 European Ministers in charge of eGovernment + policy signed the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment that calls for more + collaboration, interoperable solutions, and sharing of good practices + throughout public administrations and across borders. Amongst other things, + the EU ministers recognised the need to make more use of Free Software + solutions and Open Standards when (re)building governmental digital + systems with EU funds.
+ +The Tallinn Declaration, + lead by the Estonian EU presidency, has been adopted on 6 October 2017. + It is a ministerial declaration that marks a new political commitment + at European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) level on + priorities to ensure user-centric digital public services for both citizens + and businesses cross-border. While having no legislative power, the ministerial + declaration marks a political commitment to ensure the digital transformation + of public administrations through a set of commonly agreed principles + and actions.
+ +The FSFE has previously submitted its input + for the aforementioned declaration during the public consultation + round, asking for greater inclusion of Free Software in delivering truly + inclusive, trustworthy and interoperable digital services to all citizens + and businesses across the EU.
+ +The adopted Tallinn Declaration proves to be a forward-looking document + that acknowledges the importance of Free Software in order to ensure the + principle of 'interoperability by default', and expresses the will of + all signed EU countries to:
+ +++ +"make more use of open source solutions and/or open standards when + (re)building ICT systems and solutions (among else, to avoid vendor + lock-ins)[...]"
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Additionally, the signatories call upon the European Commission to:
+ +++ +"consider strengthening the requirements for use of open source + solutions and standards when (re)building of ICT systems and solutions + takes place with EU funding, including by an appropriate open + licence policy – by 2020."
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The last point is especially noteworthy, as it explicitly calls for + the European Commission to make use of Free Software and Open Standards + in building their ICT infrastructure with EU funds, which is in line with + our "Public Money, Public Code" campaign + that is targeted at the demand for all publicly financed software developed + for the public sector to be publicly made available under Free Software licences.
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+ The Tallinn Declaration sets several deadlines for its implementation + in the next few years: with the annual presentation on the progress of + implementation of the declaration in the respective countries across + the EU and EFTA through the eGovernment Action Plan Steering Board. + The signatories also called upon the Austrian Presidency of the Council + of the EU to evaluate the implementation of the Tallinn Declaration in + autumn 2018.
+ +++ + + + + +"The Declaration expresses the political will of the EU and + EFTA countries to digitise their governments in the most user-friendly + and efficient way. The fact that it explicitly recognises the role of + Free Software and Open Standards for a trustworthy, transparent and open + eGovernment on a high level, along with a demand for strengthened reuse + of ICT solutions based on Free Software in the EU public sector, is a + valuable step forward to establishing a "Public Money, Public Code" + reality across Europe", says Polina Malaja, the FSFE's policy analyst.
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