Symposium “Public Money? Public Code! in practice”: Digital sovereignty needs Free Software!
The FSFE symposium on “Public Money? Public Code!“ makes it clear: Procurement of and investment in Free Software (also known as Open Source) are fundamental for innovation and digital sovereignty. Only Free Software can reduce the dependencies of public administration.
On Tuesday 8 April, the symposium “Public Money? Public Code! in practice“ organised by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) took place in Essen. Experts from public administration and civil society discussed current challenges and solutions on the path to digital sovereignty. There was broad agreement at the event that public software procurement should follow the principle of “Public Money? Public Code!”. Code financed with public money should be available to everyone under a Free Software licence.
In addition, there is a need for sustainable and secure investment in Free Software as well as more intensive collaboration of public administration with software projects from the Free Software ecosystem and with civil society. Only this will enable innovation and digital sovereignty. This requires action at local and municipal level, but also at federal and EU level.
Christian Nähle, a civil society actor and managing director of the Do-FOSS initiative, presented the successful work carried out in recent years in Dortmund, where the principle of “Public Money? Public Code!” has been successfully anchored in urban policy.
"Local authorities in particular have the opportunity to cost-effectively drive forward the independence and controllability of their digital infrastructure through Free Software. Over the past few years, Dortmund has gathered valuable experience in implementing the ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ principle – experience that other cities and municipalities can now draw upon to pursue a similarly successful course. That is why it is now time to take action, network, reduce dependencies and establish digital sovereignty,”
— Christian Nähle, Managing Director, Do-FOSS
With regard to the German administrations’ existing dependencies and the current disputes surrounding the USA, Jutta Horstmann, Chair of the Management Board of the Centre for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (ZenDiS) GmbH, explained at the event:
“We can no longer afford critical dependencies of our public IT infrastructure on the USA. Public administrations must be able to choose between alternatives, they must be able to help shape them and influence providers. The best way to do this is with Open Source software. We are therefore calling for a mandatory, gradually increasing percentage of Open Source software in public sector software procurement.”
— Jutta Horstmann, Chair of the Management Board, ZenDiS
New federal government must enshrine “Public Money? Public Code!” and secure long-term funding for Free Software
Demands were expressed to the future German government: it must strengthen existing initiatives such as ZenDiS and provide funding for Free Software to establish digital sovereignty and reduce dependence on proprietary software providers. Another focus was the EU, where a reform of public procurement law is pending and the new multiannual financial framework is being debated. It was only last summer that funding for Free Software projects was cancelled - a clear step in the wrong direction.
“We call for sustainable and secure long-term funding of Free Software in order to enable digital sovereignty, eliminate dependencies of administrations throughout Europe and create interoperability. This benefits everyone: the European economy, science, civil society and a digitally independent and sovereign administration. This must be a guiding principle in the reform of public procurement law. In Europe and at federal level, funding for Free Software must be made available and secured on a sustainable basis.”
— Johannes Näder, FSFE Senior Policy Project Manager
Further information on the symposium “Public Money? Public Code! in practice” can be found here.
In last December, as part of the “Open Source” hearing in the Digital Committee of the German Bundestag, the FSFE explained in a statement how public administration can become digitally independent through Free Software. The FSFE has formulated four core demands for the future federal government: "Public Money? Public Code!”, secure, long-term funding for Free Software, competence building and statistics to monitor progress.
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.