French government spending on services based on open source software has reached 15% of the public administration IT budget, and continues to grow at 30% per year.

The figures were revealed after an industry trade group, CNLL (Conseil National du Logiciel Libre), approached presidential candidates about their views on open source software and platforms.

According to a blog on the European Commission website, President Nicolas Sarkozy has given tax credits to SMEs that switch to open source software, while François Hollande has pledged to make the use of open source software in education a priority if he’s elected.

The news comes after Iceland announced that it intends to move its entire public service over to open source software and platforms in March, another prominent example of the adoption of open source software and standards by government.