Participative democracy relies increasingly on the ability of citizens and stakeholders to access public information and to communicate with officials and elected politicians electronically. This half-day conference looks at the situation where public institutions are locked into the ICT products of a single vendor, discusses the implications of this for participative democracy and fair competition, and considers the prospects for the European Parliament to adopt the use of open standards and open source software and to promote interoperability in the European ICT sector.

9.00 – 9.30 Registration

9.30 – 10.45 Panel 1: Democracy, Participation and Open Standards - the situation inside the European Institutions

                        Panelists:  Dr Luc Soete, UNU – MERIT, Maastricht

                                            Michelle Childs, Knowledge Ecology International

                                            Alberto Barrionuevo, FFII

                        Moderator: David Hammerstein (MEP)

10.45 – 11.15 Q & A chaired by Margrete Auken (MEP)

11.15 – 12.30 Panel 2: Open Standards and Open Source in Public Administration – best practices from Member States                       

                        Panelists:  Dr Rolf Schuster, German Foreign Ministry

                                            Martin Mollema, The Netherlands in Open Connection

                                            Representative of APRIL, France

                        Moderator: Eva Lichtenberger (MEP)

12.30 – 13.00 Open discussion and conclusions with Graham Taylor, OpenForum Europe and Hiltrud Breyer (MEP)

The conference will be followed by a buffet lunch