MEPs petition European Parliament switch to Open Source
A petition to make the European Parliament switch its IT systems to Open Source has so far gotten the support of a hundred MEPs.
For the petition to be adopted, more than half the members of the European Parliament should sign the document. This means the petition needs some two hundred more signatures.
The petition was launched in May by five members of the European Parliament, Jean Louis Cottigny, Pierre Pribetich, Michel Rocard, Bronisław Geremek and Daniel Cohn-Bendit. The MEPs not only are asking for a migration of "its whole computer network to Open Source software", they also want the European Union to finance public research on this type of software.
April, a French association to promote Open Source software, is trying to get more MEPs to support the petition. The organisation explains on its website: "All people who support Open Source software in France and Europe are requested to contact their MEPs, to ask them to sign this statement at the plenary session next week."
One of the members of the organisation visited Brussels in early September to talk to MEPs. Next week April will also be organising an information booth at the Parliament.
Links to the petition in all languages of the member states of the European Union can be found at website of the Open Source advocacy group.
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