Of the 232 candidates for the European Parliament who pledged their support for free and open source software, 34 have been elected. They are from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The Members of the European Parliement (MEPs) who signed the 'Free Software Pact' can be found in all six political groups of the European Parliament.

The French free software advocacy group 'April' published the results of its European campaign last month. The organisation said it will brief the group of MEPs on topics such as Digital Rights Management, patents and the Telecom Package.

'April' and its Italian counterpart the 'Associazione per il Software Libero' began their campaign at the end of March 2009. They wanted citizens to approach candidates, bring them up-to-date regarding free software and ask them to express their support for it. The names of candidates who pledged support are published on the website of the Free Software Pact.
 
Their efforts were later joined by organisations and individuals in ten countries, said Alix Cazenave, the spokesperson of 'April'. For instance, in Spain, the open source group Hispalinux joined. The campaign moreover received contributions from individuals in Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

The Free Software Pact is helping 'April' and the other groups improve contact with the MEPs, explains Cazenave. The MEPs will be involved in thorny issues such as the revision of the European Copyright Directive and patents, she says. "It is vital that MEPs take organisations representing civil society as seriously as they do with multinationals."

 

Further information: 

• Original news article - OSOR.EU website 
• Website of the Free Software Pact