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FSFE welcomes CDU decision to make Free Software mandatory

on: 2019-11-25

The Free Software Foundation Europe welcomes the conservantive CDU's party convention resolution on the use of Free Software. At its 32nd party conference this weekend, the CDU ("Christian Democratic Party") resolved to join FSFE in demanding that software developed with public money should be publicly available as Free Software. This decision aligns with our "Public Money, Public Code!" campaign, which is supported by over 170 organisations and 26,000 individuals.

Matthias Kirschner, President of FSFE, states: "Free Software gives everyone the right to use, study, share and improve programs for any purpose. These freedoms strengthen other fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to privacy. Digital sovereignty can only be achieved through Free Software. We are pleased that our campaign has now gotten through to the governing CDU party and that the conservatives support our demand "Public Money? Public Code!". We now expect the CDU to immediately work within the government to create the legal basis for publicly funded software to be released under a Free- and Open-Source Software license."

The CDU's party convention resolution states:

"The open and jointly developed standards of the Internet and open interfaces are the principles from which we advance the digitisation of Germany. It is only through openness that competition can be created; only through openness can new players in competition challenge the top dogs. This is why the following will apply to all (public) digitisation projects in Germany in the future: the awarding of contracts and funding will be subject to compliance with the principles of open source and open standards. Software financed by public funds should serve all citizens. In addition, free and open APIs should facilitate access for independent developments." (Translation provided by FSFE)

Further background information can be found on the campaign website. The video and other content found there are available for free distribution under a CC BY SA 4.0 license.