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diff --git a/content/blog/2024-07-european-commission-letter/index.md b/content/blog/2024-07-european-commission-letter/index.md index 936119a..a3a24a5 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-07-european-commission-letter/index.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-07-european-commission-letter/index.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ +++ -title="Deuxfleurs signs the open letter to the European Commision" +title="Open letter to the European Commission" date=2024-07-14 +++ @@ -12,8 +12,70 @@ for the development of free software and commons on the Internet.* --- -Unfortunately, the open letter has not yet been translated in Englisn. You may consult the version in French that we have published at the following address: -<https://plume.deuxfleurs.fr/~/Deuxfleurs/Lettre%20ouverte%20%C3%A0%20la%20Commission%20Europ%C3%A9enne> +Since 2020, Next Generation Internet (NGI) programmes, part of European +Commission's Horizon programme, fund free software in Europe using a cascade +funding mechanism (see for example NLnet's calls). This year, according to the +Horizon Europe working draft detailing funding programmes for 2025, we notice +that Next Generation Internet is not mentioned any more as part of Cluster 4. -The list of all other collectives that have also signed the letter is available at the following address: -<https://pad.public.cat/lettre-NCP-NGI> +NGI programmes have shown their strength and importance to support the European +software infrastructure, as a generic funding instrument to fund digital +commons and ensure their long-term sustainability. We find this transformation +incomprehensible, moreover when NGI has proven efficient and ecomomical to +support free software as a whole, from the smallest to the most established +initiatives. This ecosystem diversity backs the strength of European +technological innovation, and maintaining the NGI initiative to provide +structural support to software projects at the heart of worldwide innovation is +key to enforce the sovereignty of a European infrastructure. + +Contrary to common perception, technical innovations often originate from +European rather than North American programming communities, and are mostly +initiated by small-scaled organizations. + +Previous Cluster 4 allocated 27 millions euros to: + +- "Human centric Internet aligned with values and principles commonly shared in Europe" ; + +- "A flourishing internet, based on common building blocks created within NGI, that enables better control of our digital life" ; + +- "A structured eco-system of talented contributors driving the creation of new internet commons and the evolution of existing internet commons". + +In the name of these challenges, more than 500 projects received NGI funding in +the first 5 years, backed by 18 organisations managing these European funding +consortia. + +NGI contributes to a vast ecosystem, as most of its budget is allocated to fund +third parties by the means of open calls, to structure commons that cover the +whole Internet scope - from hardware to application, operating systems, digital +identities or data traffic supervision. This third-party funding is not renewed +in the current program, leaving many projects short on resources for research +and innovation in Europe. + +Moreover, NGI allows exchanges and collaborations across all the Euro zone +countries as well as "widening countries"[^1], currently both a success and and an +ongoing progress, likewise the Erasmus programme before us. NGI also +contributes to opening and supporting longer relationships than strict project +funding does. It encourages to implement projects funded as pilots, backing +collaboration, identification and reuse of common elements across projects, +interoperability in identification systems and beyond, and setting up +development models that mix diverse scales and types of European funding +schemes. + +While the USA, China or Russia deploy huge public and private resources to +develop software and infrastructure that massively capture private consumer +data, the EU can't afford this renunciation. + +Free and open source software, as supported by NGI since 2020, is by design the +opposite of potential vectors for foreign interference. It lets us keep our +data local and favors a community-wide economy and know-how, while allowing an +international collaboration. This is all the more essential in the current +geopolitical context: the challenge of technological sovereignty is central, +and free software allows to address it while acting for peace and sovereignty +in the digital world as a whole. + +*The list of all other collectives that have also signed the letter is available +at the following address: <https://pad.public.cat/lettre-NCP-NGI>.* + +--- + +[^1]: As defined by Horizon Europe, widening Member States are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lituania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Widening associated countries (under condition of an association agreement) include Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Feroe Islands, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldavia, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. Widening overseas regions are : Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion Island, Mayotte, Saint-Martin, The Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands. |