PRESSURES ON THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FOR THE ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Parliamentary Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance strongly urges the European Parliament to use open source solutions and free. He claims a rule that requires the institution transparency in its activities.

The Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance wrote to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, a letter published Friday, November 29 urging him to make use of free software and open standards under Rule 103 (from "Rules of procedure "of the institution ) , which indicates that it must " ensure that its activities are conducted in full transparency . "

In response to this long-standing request , the European Parliament has repeatedly requested an analysis showing the relationship between Rule 103 and the use of open source software and open standards. In his letter, the group therefore refers to a study it commissioned last summer at Dutch firm Mitopics board to " understand how [ they ] may contribute to Parliament's efforts in this area ." The study , delivered on October 31 , emits strong criticism against the answers given by DG ITEC Department, Informatics Parliament , repeated applications of the parliamentary group .

The study explains that " the report of the IT department does not provide a full and complete response ": it does not provide a description of the systems , architecture and IT planning , nor its dependence à-vis proprietary standards . In addition , issues of development and acquisition , but also use of free software, remain obscure .

If Rule 103 does not seem to compel Parliament to directly adopt open source software and open standards, the study Mitopics indicates that this rule requires the IT department to "examine all processes, policies and organizational , and watch the flow of information , computer systems , their formats and processes . " This rule , according Mitopics requires an inventory of the systems used by the institution , taking into account their "authenticity , integrity and confidentiality ." According to the consulting firm , if the analysis requested by the Greens and European Free Alliance was made, it would indicate that the principles of transparency Rule 103 shall apply to the flow of information, software and electronic document formats used by Parliament. This study and issue recommendations stating " the extent to which use of free and open source solutions and open standards is essential to meet these principles."