European cloud computing should be built on open standards and open source, says the European Parliament. Last week, the EP adopted its motion on the European Cloud Initiative, emphasising the importance of open standards and open source for security, data privacy, government openness, and for innovation.

The resolution aggregates the Parliament’s views on government and science cloud computing plans such as the European Cloud Initiative.

“The scientific community needs a secured, safe and open source high-capacity infrastructure in order to advance research and to prevent potential security breaches, cyber-attacks or misuse of personal data”, the EP motion says. The parliamentarians also urge “the Commission to direct more resources towards boosting European research, development and innovation, including, among other things, in the field of privacy-enhancing technologies and open-source security.”

Open by default

With the European Cloud Initiative, the European Commission and the EU Member States will concentrate their efforts on building a high performance cloud infrastructure for scientists, industry and the public sector. As part of the plan, first, all data produced by the science projects co-funded by the EC’s Horizon 2020 Programme should be made open by default, to boost interoperability and reuse. Secondly, the EU will also fund the development of cloud computing hardware and networks. A third aim is to create a “Government as a Service” platform for European public authorities, where they can open their data and services.

More information:

European Parliament resolution

Press release The Greens/EFA (in Dutch)

European Cloud Initiative