German Elections 2025: We demand public code, secure funding for Free Software, and transparent measurement of progress!
The next German government must finally push for the controllability, security, and sovereignty of the public digital infrastructure. As Free Software is a prerequisite for this, the FSFE is making 4 key demands: "Public Money? Public Code!", securing long-term funding for Free Software, deepening Free Software knowledge in administrations, and monitoring progress.
Public administrations and democratic institutions – as well as society as a whole – require a reliable digital infrastructure. The current dependence of this infrastructure on proprietary software poses significant risks for Germany and Europe. Free Software, by contrast, fosters collaboration and innovation, and strengthens Germany’s technological sovereignty. Securing the ability to shape and control the digital infrastructure of our democracy must be a central project of the next German government. The consistent use of Free Software (also known as Open Source) is essential to achieve this.
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) therefore calls on Germany's next government to commit to Free Software for public administrations, and to implement the following four measures:
- Public Money? Public Code! Software developed with public money for public administrations must be released under Free Software licences. This principle, known as "Public Money? Public Code!", must be enshrined in law and implemented by the new government. This is the only way to free public administrations from their dependency on proprietary software and its vendors, and to ensure technological sovereignty.
- Secure long-term funding for Free Software! Instead of investing billions in proprietary licences and thereby cementing existing dependencies, the federal government must ensure long-term funding for Free Software both through public procurement and targeted support for core infrastructure. The Centre for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS) plays a key role in the push for Free Software in Germany. ZenDiS therefore needs a long-term, stable budget to continue supporting administrations on their path to technological sovereignty through Free Software.
- Strengthen administrative skills and civil society involvement! Many public administrations and civil society organisations already have expertise in procuring and using Free Software. The government needs to make these resources available across the public sector. Existing expertise within Free Software communities and civil society must be strategically integrated.
- Measure progress! Public administrations need to collect and publish statistics on the procurement, use and distribution of Free Software. These statistics will allow effective monitoring of progress in increasing the share of Free Software in the public sector.
Since the FSFE launched the "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative, democratic parties in the German Bundestag have increasingly recognised that technological sovereignty requires Free Software. "Public Money? Public Code!" is reflected in party conference resolutions and election programmes. Although the previous federal government failed to implement its promising coalition agreement, a recent public hearing in the Bundestag's Digital Committee confirmed that the goal of strengthening Germany's technological sovereignty through Free Software is undisputed among the democratic parliamentary groups. It is now the task of the next German government to finally address and implement this goal and to ensure that our digital infrastructure becomes controllable and future-proof.
Free Software and "Public Money? Public Code!"
Free Software gives everyone the right to use, study, share, and improve applications for any purpose. These four freedoms ensure that similar applications do not have to be programmed from scratch every time and, thanks to transparent processes, others do not have to reinvent the wheel. In large projects, expertise and costs can be shared and applications are available to all. This promotes innovation and saves taxpayers money in the future. Dependencies on vendors are minimised and security issues can be fixed more easily. The Free Software Foundation Europe, together with over 200 organisations and administrations, is therefore calling for “Public Money? Public Code!” - If it is public money, it should be public code as well! More information on the initiative is available on the "Public Money? Public Code!" website.