The European Parliament Calls on the European Union to Migrate to Free Software

Paris, November 3, 2015. Press Release.

On October 29, 2015, the European Parliament adopted a report by Claude Moraes which condemned mass surveillance. This report calls on the European Union to migrate to free software, and to add free sofware as a mandatory selection criterion in IT public procurement.

The European Parliament's resolution of October 29, 2015 1 condemns mass surveillance, unfortunately after deleting from its final version any call on the European Commission to investigate the French surveillance laws.

Section 47 calls on the European Union to systematically replace proprietary software with free software and to establish a mandatory “Free Software” selection criterion in all the public procurement procedures in the IT field.

47. Welcomes the steps taken so far to strengthen Parliament’s IT security, as outlined in the action plan on EP ICT Security prepared by DG ITEC; asks for these efforts to be continued and the recommendations made in the resolution fully and swiftly carried out;calls for fresh thinking and, if necessary, legislative change in the field of procurement to enhance the IT security of the EUinstitutions; calls for the systematic replacement of proprietary software by auditable and verifiable open-source software in all the EU institutions, for the introduction of a mandatory ‘open-source’ selection criterion in all future ICT procurement procedures, and for efficient availability of encryption tools;

“This is the first time the European Parliament is explicitely calling for migration to free software. Even though such resolution is non-binding, it is a very strong signal to the European Commission”, said Frédéric Couchet, April's executive director.

April calls on the European Commission to effectively implement this migration toward free software and to really make free software a priority in public procurements.

• 1. European Parliament resolution of 29 October 2015 on the follow-up to the European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2014 on the electronic mass surveillance of EU citizens