Declaration of Grenada: towards interoperability and open standards in the e-administration.

Paris, April 21st 2010. Press release.

The European ministers in charge of telecommunications and of the information society have met in Granada around the commissary Neelie Kroes. On Monday the 19th of April 2010, they have reaffirmed the important of open standards and interoperability in the development of the digital administration. April supports these declaration but it also underlines the fact that more than ever it is necessary to consolidate these principles within the European Interoperability Framework (EIF 2.0).

Assembled in Granada to define the digital agenda for the European Union, the ministers in charge of telecommunications and the digital society of the Member States of the EU have reminded their attachment to open standards and interoperability as drivers towards flexibility, efficiency and durability of the digital administration.1

"The declaration of the ministers and of the commissary Neelie Kroes are a good sign for the digital agenda" stated Frédéric Couchet, April's Executive Director, "but they shall remain unheeded if the EIF 2.0 strikes out the meaning of open standards and interoperability. To follow Microsoft's point of view on these questions would be nothing less than throwing down the pit all the work accomplished theses last years within the IDABC program."2

"The standard opening requested in Granada is a chance for the development of the information society in Europe. By having the digital administration rely on open standards and interoperability, the European Union shall be at last capable to open to the competition, innovation, collaboration and sharing that are inherent to Free Software" added Tangui Morlier, April's President.

April call upon the European Commission to deal with these topics with the utmost care. April urges the EC to reaffirm that interoperability relies necessarily on open standards with no restriction in their implementation, in order to allow the sustainable development of an information society within the European Union.

Regarding April

Pioneer of free software in France, April is since 1996 a major player in the democratization and the spread of Free Software and open standards to the general public, professionals and institutions in the French-speaking world. In the digital era that is ours, it also aims to inform the public on the dangers of an exclusive appropriation of information an knowledge by private interests.

The association has over 5,400 members, using or producing Free Software.

For more information, you may go to the following website: http://www.april.org/, contact us by phone at +33 178 769 280 or through our contact form.

Contacts

Frédéric Couchet, Executive Director, fcouchet@april.org +33 660 688 931

Alix Cazenave, Public Affairs Officer, acazenave@april.org +33 1 78 76 92 80

• 1. See the declaration of Granada (PDF, EN), especially the bullet points 6, 18, 19 and 21. For further information on the declaration of Granada, see also the news on the website UE2010.net (EN) and the official press release (PDF, EN).
• 2. See the previous news of April EIF 2.0: open letters to the European Commission to save interoperability and EIF 2.0: no interoperability without open standards!, as well as the letter to the European Commission.