102 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
102 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2017-11-09">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>32 European ministers call for more Free Software in governmental infrastructure</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>32 European ministers call for more Free Software in governmental infrastructure</h1>
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<p>On 6 October, 32 European Ministers in charge of eGovernment
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policy signed the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment that calls for more
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collaboration, interoperable solutions, and sharing of good practices
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throughout public administrations and across borders. Amongst other things,
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the EU ministers recognised the need to make more use of Free Software
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solutions and Open Standards when (re)building governmental digital
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systems with EU funds.</p>
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<p>The <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=47559">Tallinn Declaration</a>,
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lead by the Estonian EU presidency, has been adopted on 6 October 2017.
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It is a ministerial declaration that marks a new political commitment
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at European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) level on
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priorities to ensure user-centric digital public services for both citizens
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and businesses cross-border. While having no legislative power, the ministerial
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declaration marks a political commitment to ensure the digital transformation
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of public administrations through a set of commonly agreed principles
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and actions.</p>
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<p>The FSFE has previously submitted its <a href="/news/2017/news-20170710-01.html">input
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for the aforementioned declaration</a> during the public consultation
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round, asking for greater inclusion of Free Software in delivering truly
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inclusive, trustworthy and interoperable digital services to all citizens
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and businesses across the EU.</p>
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<p>The adopted Tallinn Declaration proves to be a forward-looking document
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that acknowledges the importance of Free Software in order to ensure the
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principle of 'interoperability by default', and expresses the will of
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all signed EU countries to:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"make more use of open source solutions and/or open standards when
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(re)building ICT systems and solutions (among else, to avoid vendor
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lock-ins)[...]"</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Additionally, the signatories call upon the European Commission to:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"consider strengthening the requirements for use of open source
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solutions and standards when (re)building of ICT systems and solutions
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takes place with EU funding, including by an appropriate open
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licence policy – by 2020."</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>The last point is especially noteworthy, as it explicitly calls for
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the European Commission to make use of Free Software and Open Standards
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in building their ICT infrastructure with EU funds, which is in line with
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our <a href="https://publiccode.eu">"Public Money, Public Code" campaign</a>
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that is targeted at the demand for all publicly financed software developed
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for the public sector to be publicly made available under Free Software licences.</p>
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<div class="captioned" style="width:80%; margin: 1.5em auto;"><a href="https://publiccode.eu">
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/bb586c15dbff7cd1b31e877108084a2e.png" alt="Public Money Public Code - quote" /></a>
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</div>
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<h2>What's next?</h2>
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<p>The Tallinn Declaration sets several deadlines for its implementation
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in the next few years: with the annual presentation on the progress of
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implementation of the declaration in the respective countries across
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the EU and EFTA through the eGovernment Action Plan Steering Board.
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The signatories also called upon the Austrian Presidency of the Council
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of the EU to evaluate the implementation of the Tallinn Declaration in
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autumn 2018.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"The Declaration expresses the political will of the EU and
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EFTA countries to digitise their governments in the most user-friendly
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and efficient way. The fact that it explicitly recognises the role of
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Free Software and Open Standards for a trustworthy, transparent and open
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eGovernment on a high level, along with a demand for strengthened reuse
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of ICT solutions based on Free Software in the EU public sector, is a
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valuable step forward to establishing a <a href="https://publiccode.eu">"Public Money, Public Code"</a>
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reality across Europe", says Polina Malaja, the FSFE's policy analyst.</p>
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</blockquote>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="policy">policy</tag>
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<tag key="pmpc">Public Code</tag>
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<tag key="openstandards">OpenStandards</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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