Free software advocacy groups are hopeful that the incoming European Commission will advance the use and development of this type of software solution in public administration.
April, France's free software advocacy group, expects EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip to favour the increase of free and open source software.
Reporting on the meeting of the new Vice-President for the Digital Single Market with the European Parliament on 6 October, the group notes how as Prime Minister of Estonia, he had ensured all software financed by European funds was made publicly available.
“We are pleased with the statements Andrus Ansip, Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, made on free software” said Frédéric Couchet, April's executive director in the statement. “We hope that this goodwill expressed during his hearing will translate into actions for implementing a European public policy that will favour development and use of free software in all areas.”
Also cautiously optimistic is Red Hat’s EMEA Public Policy Director Paul Brownell. “There is reason for optimism that the new Commission will design and implement policies that will enable the further growth of open source and open standards. But, there is also much to be done in terms of engagement and education”, Brownell writes on opensource.com, the firm’s website.
Brownell points out that neither of the two key Commissioners with ICT portfolios, Andrus Ansip and European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger “have a track record in this space. Both, however, are recognized as able leaders and quick studies of new issues areas.”
More information:
Statement by April
Comments by Red Hat’s EMEA Public Policy Director
European Parliament elects Juncker Commission