Statements

Europe has an outstanding culture of transparency that aligns with EU digital rights and the clear support of end user and customer rights. It has also become clear, that the European IT infrastructure heavily depends on EU-external big tech companies with proprietary systems. That leaves the EU and its countries subject to political pressure and amplifies a brain-drain out of the EU.

Many crucial Open Source projects have only a single maintainer behind them that are in dire need of financial and technical support. While initiatives like the NLNet, Sovereign Tech Fund, and the EC’s OSPO have laid a vital foundation for the support of the Open Source ecosystem, it has not solved it. Free Software is for a digital society like roads and bridges: Expertise required for construction and long term funding for maintenance. Therefore, the ecosystem must have funding that isn't redirected to the current or next hype of technologies (e.g. AI).

90% of proprietary products contain Open Source, but the commercial value is solely captured by the vendor, many outside the EU. We like to see a mandatory label for software products so that buyers can make an informed decision.

A EU wide Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF) could create secure and long-term funding. However, those who profit from Free and Open Source Software must be made accountable for its vendor-neutral support. Also, Open Source is developed on top of existing CI/CD and hosting infrastructure, most often non-EU based systems, leading to a resilience-gap.

Preferring Open Source helps the EU to rapidly grow technical skills and build up European solutions, keeping R&D investment within the Union while benefiting from globally created innovations, rather than exporting it as license fees. Open Source code enables a competitive ecosystem of providers to deliver long-term maintenance and security patches well beyond standard industry timelines. The economic shift towards buy European (which is just the next vendor-lockin) as the only way to "sell" a solution in the EU would be dramatic for the Open Source ecosystem. As Free and Open Source Software is global, with maintaining and developers from all nations contributing.

Therefore, we'd like to see:

• Clearly prefered incentivize "buy Open Source" solutions backed by european vendors
• Mandate a transparency label (like EU SEAL0-4) to leave the decisions about the choice of software by the individuals and / or the public rather than forcing it already upon the public by only promoting non free big-tech products, for example with the requirement to use those products in schools.
• Promote the benefits of Free and Open Source software so that the general public can make an informed choice between a proprietary, a digitally sovereign and an Open Source and sovereign solution.
• Lead by example via Public Money Public Code. EU institutions should mandate Open Source solutions backed by Open Source from the EU's own sector.
• Establish a EU wide Sovereign Tech Fund to protect maintainers from the growing funding gap and bring secure and long-term funding to the Open Source projects.
• Build a clear strategy that benefits Open Source maintainers and projects in the EU, for example by incentivizing via tax-reduction EU businesses to support Open Source for the public good. Reduce the burdens to contract Open Source developers across the EU member states. It is crucial to keep and strengthen expertise and knowledge in the EU to avoid being passengers in our own IT strategy.
• Consult with Free and Open Source experts for existing and new regulations, to ensure their practicality and avoid to damage SMEs as well as the Free and Open Source ecosystem as has happened in the past.
• Form a legal "safe-harbor" zone for EU-based open source contributors to lower the administrative burden.