The European Commission has announced that it has begun preparations for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), the EU’s long-term budget, which will begin in 2028.
As part of these preparations, the Commission has launched seven public consultations across various policy areas to gather stakeholder views on the structure of the next MFF.
We have prepared input for the “EU competitiveness fund” area, endorsing the EU-wide Sovereign Technology Fund (EU-STF) proposal submitted by OpenForum Europe, with a particular focus on the heavy reliance on proprietary solutions.
At a time when the EU is rightly questioning its external technology dependencies, mainly amid the “EuroStack” conversations, a well-designed EU-STF with a long-term commitment could be positioned to the EU’s advantage.
In summary, the long-term goals should be:
- To increase the production of all open source software (OSS), including end-user applications.
- To shift the software market towards OSS, gradually replacing proprietary solutions with open source alternatives.
- To aim for full digital sovereignty, maximum innovation, and economic impact, particularly around the software stack.
Regarding the fund:
- To achieve the above objectives, the fund’s size should be proportionate to the size of the software sector. To ensure this, introduce an “Open Source Tax” (an increase in the value-added tax) on the sale of proprietary solutions, with the rate rising by 1% annually.
- Allow all companies that produce OSS to generate revenue through the fund.
- Ensure the fund is distributed periodically as direct revenue. Use “software usage” and “software complexity” as the primary metrics.
- Make a long-term commitment to ensure businesses can rely on this revenue.
- Fund only EU-based OSS initiatives. Invite companies outside the EU to move to the EU or ask them to lobby for a fund in their countries.
Since the consultation received over 2,000 responses, we decided to keep our contribution brief. You can read our proposal at the following link:
Proposal for a Long-Term EU Sovereign Tech Fund