"...Sarnez, a member of the European Parliament since 1999, is currently campaigning to be re-elected to the European Parliament. She has recently pledged her support for free software, after being approached by the Free Software advocacy associations April in France and the Associazione per il software libero in Italy.

"Free Software advocacy associations April (France/Belgium) and Associazione per il software libero (Italy) have launched a joint campaign aimed at the European Parliament elections in early June. The campaign invites citizens to ask candidates to sign the Free Software Pact..."

One member of the European Parliament and a handful of their advisors and assistants started a free software group last Saturday, aiming to increase the use of free and open source software in the European Parliament's IT infrastructure. The user group is open to all who works in the European Parliament, including staff and assistants working in political groups.

"Welcome to the Free Software Pact Initiative! Free Software advocacy associations April [...] and "Associazione per il software libero" (Italy) have launched a joint campaign aimed at the European Parliament elections in early June 2009. The campaign invites citizens to ask candidates to sign the "Free Software Pact".

"At a time when the EU Commission investigates the anti-competitive behaviour of a market-dominant player, the European Parliament (EP) still imposes that same specific software choice on both the European Union's citizens and its own MEPs. OpenForum Europe, The European Software Market Association, and the Free Software Foundation Europe today launched a petition to call on the EP to use Open Standards so that all citizens can participate in the democratic process. [...] The signatories are encouraging citizens and other stakeholder groups to publicly support the objectives of the petition by signing up on www.openparliament.eu ..."

A report on the use of free software and open standards by the European Parliament is being written. The parliamentarians are asking the EP's IT department to update them on the free software applications used in the European Parliament. They also suggest that IT department investigate the Parliaments' obligation to use free software and open standards.

The European Parliament's Free Software User Group is 'very important'. Its work helps strengthen democracy in the European Parliament. "And if you help it here, you're probably also helping it in Greece, Finland, the United Kingdom and elsewhere."

The newly elected European Parliament will include at least 33 members from 7 member states that have pledged their support to free software, according to advocacy groups April and the FSFE. The provisional results of their campaign show that of these, 17 come from France, 7 from Germany, 3 from the Netherlands, 2 from Italy, 2 from Spain, 1 from Belgium and 1 from Portugal.

Free Software Foundation Europe is asking the Members of the European Parliament to wait for legal advice before voting on a unitary patent for Europe. While a proposal is on the Parliament's agenda for the coming week, a legal opinion by the European Court of Justice is expected later this month.