The Free Software Pact - News2024-02-14T10:01:05+01:00urn:md5:d643d51bae2fb3d816cc75c876f784aeDotclearFree Software Pact: 162 signatories, at least 33 MEPs have signed the Free Software Pact!urn:md5:064bbfacedd08902a471bc2d4bfbe3d42014-05-282014-05-28Frédéric CouchetCampaign news<p><em>Paris, 28 May 2014. Press release.</em></p>
<strong>According to provisional results, 33 signatories of the Free Software Pact were elected to the European Parliament in May 2014. April thanks all of them for their commitment in favor of Free Software, and volunteers for their hard work.</strong> <p>On May 25th, <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/?action=liste_signataires&o_sens=DESC&o_date=1">162 candidates from 16 countries had signed the Free Software Pact</a>, committing to protecting and promoting Free Software if they were elected to the European Parliament.</p>
<p>According to provisional results, at least <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/index.php?action=liste_signataires&o_sens=ASC&o_circo=1&parti=&departement=&finalistes_only=1">33 newly elected Members of the European Parliament from 7 countries have signed the Free Software Pact</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>17 from France : Eric Andrieu, Pervenche Berès, José Bosé, Marielle de Sarnez, Karima Delli, Jean-Paul Denanot, Pascal Durand, Sylvie Guillaume, Yannick Jadot, Eva Joly, Patrick Le Hyaric, Emmanuel Maurel, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Christine Revault, Michèle Rivasi, Isabelle Thomas, Marie-Christine Vergiat</li>
<li>7 from Germany :Jan Philip Albrecht, Fabio de Masi, Ska Keller, Constanze Krehl, Martina Michels, Julia Reda, Gabi Zimmer</li>
<li>3 from the Netherlands : Bas Eikhout, Kati Piri and Judith Sargentini</li>
<li>2 from Italy : Sergio Cofferati and Patrizia Toia</li>
<li>2 from Spain : Pablo Echenique Robba and Florent Marcellesi</li>
<li>1 from Portugal : Marisa Matias</li>
<li>1 from Belgium : Philippe Lamberts</li>
</ul>
<p><em>"April would like to thanks all of them for their commitment to Free Software"</em>, said Jeanne Tadeusz, Public Affairs officer at April.<em>"The European Parliament is one of the most important actors today in protecting our freedoms, as the recent battles on ACTA, Net neutrality, but also software patents in the past have shown. It is hence crucial that MEPs know and care about Free Software."</em> </p>
<p>Volunteers were also active in translating the Pact, which is available in 16 languages, and the Free Software Pact website in 5. Many thanks to all of you who contributed to the campaign! </p>
<p><em>"Newly elected members of the European Parliament can still sign the <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/The-Free-Software-Pact">Free Software Pact</a>"</em>, adds Frédéric Couchet, executive director of April. <em>"Volunteers are invited to contact their newly elected MEPs to inform them about Free Software"</em>.</p>
<h2>About the Free Software Pact initiative</h2>
<p>Since 2007, French association April has sensitized candidates to political elections about Free Software related issues through the Candidats.fr initiative. The Candidats.fr initiative was part of all presidential, legislative and local elections since 2007, asking them to sign the "Pacte du Logiciel Libre" (Free Software Pact).</p>
<p>In 2009, April, Associazione per il software libero, Hispalinux and volunteers joined their forces for the first Free Software Pact campaign for the European elections. In 2009, 231 candidates signed the Pact and 44 signatories were elected.
</p>
<p>For the 2014 edition, the Free Software Pact is an initiative by <a href="http://www.april.org">April</a>, with the support of <a href="http://softwarelibero.it/">Assoli</a>, <a href="http://www.edri.org/">EDRI</a>, <a href="http://fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>, <a href="http://fsfe.org/">Free Software Foundation Europe</a>, <a href="http://hispalinux.es/">Hispalinux</a>, <a href="http://laka.lv/">LAKA</a> and <a href="http://soit.sk/">SOIT</a>. The Free Software Pact is available in 16 European languages, and the initiative website in 5 languages.
</p>
<p>April was also a partner of the <a href="http://wepromise.eu">WePromise.eu</a> initiative.</p>
<h2>About April</h2>
<p>A pioneer of Free Software in France since 1996, April is a major player in the democratisation of Free Software and open standards, and in their spread to the general public, professionals and institutions of 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 and knowledge by private interests.</p>
<p>The organisation is a non-profit and it has over 3,600 members, who use or produce Free Software.</p>
<p>For more information, you may visit <a href="http://www.april.org/">http://www.april.org/</a>, contact us by phone at +33 1 78 76 92 80, or use our <a href="http://www.april.org/en/contact-us">contact form</a>.</p>
<p>Press contacts:</p>
<br />Jeanne Tadeusz, Public Affairs Officer, <a href="mailto:jtadeusz@april.org">jtadeusz@april.org</a> +33 1 78 76 92 82
<br />Frédéric Couchet, Executive Director, <a href="mailto:fcouchet@april.org">fcouchet@april.org</a> +33 6 60 68 89 31Less than 48 hours before voting for the European Parliament starts! Contact your candidates now!urn:md5:40aeaa0d70eadad12d7cb0312145cdbc2014-05-202014-05-20Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news <p>The European elections will take place May 22-25, starting on Thursday with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, followed by Ireland on Friday, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, French Overseas Territories on Saturday (while the Czech Republic will vote on Friday and Saturday), and on Sunday Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and Spain will vote.</p>
<p>There is only a few hours left to contact your candidates! So far, <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/?action=liste_signataires&o_sens=DESC&o_date=1">122 candidates</a> have signed the Free Software Pact.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/">contact platform</a> is there to help you contact candidates. Get in touch with them, whether by email, phone, mail, or direct contact, and ask them if they are planning to sign the Free Software Pact.</p>
<p>You can elaborate by explaining why Free Software is important to you and why you believe it should be protected by legislators. Software patent, interoperability, freedom, privacy,... are all important and valid arguments to be heard by the future Members of the European Parliament!</p>
<p>You can also use the 2009 documents <a href="http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-what-is-as-stake.en.pdf">Free Software - what is at stake</a> and <a href="http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-the-threats.en.pdf">Free Software - The threats</a> to have more ideas on how to explain the issue to your candidates. Don't hesitate to use them!</p>
<p>And of course, you can also sign the <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/declaration/">Free Software usage declaration</a> in order to show you support for Free Software and tell politicians that you believe it is important that they protect and promote it.</p>The Free Software Pact website is now available in German, Italian and Spanishurn:md5:768ab6540d42df9f9b53a17304a688102014-05-132014-05-13Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news <p>We are happy to announce that the website has been translated and is now available in English, French, Latvian, German, Italian and Spanish.
Many thanks to all who participated in the translations!</p>
<p>Now you can spread the word, including to non-English speakers, to tell them about the initiative, <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/europarl2014/">ask candidates to sign the Free Software Pact</a>, and <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/declaration">sign the Free Software usage declaration</a>!</p>New versions of the Free Software Pact: Català and Galego now onlineurn:md5:d09c45bee3867c0c3fa2feeff0d34bd12014-05-022014-05-02Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news <p>The Pact is now available for download in <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/free-software-pact_ca.pdf">Català</a> and <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/free-software-pact-2014_GL.pdf">Galego</a>. Many thanks to those who helped translate !</p>Contact your candidates to the European elections and ask them to sign the Free Software Pact!urn:md5:22ac8d58a42f6a8fb583ccda19bf7a5f2014-04-302014-04-30Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>The European elections are in less than a month. So far, <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/?action=liste_signataires&o_sens=DESC&o_date=1">26 candidates have signed</a> the Free Software Pact. Use the <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/">contact platform</a> to get in touch with candidates in your country and ask them to sign the <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/The-Free-Software-Pact">Free Software Pact</a>!</p> <p>The <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu//europarl2014/">contact platform</a> is there to help you contact candidates. On the platform, you can see who has signed the Free Software Pact, but also register as a volunteer, relay contact actions, find out and/or add candidates contact info, ...</p>
<p>Now is the time to contact candidates ! With the elections in less than a month, most of the candidates' names are now public. Get in touch with them, whether by email, phone, mail, or direct contact, and ask them if they are planning to sign the Free Software Pact.</p>
<p>You can elaborate by explaining why Free Software is important to you and why you believe it should be protected by legislators. Software patent, interoperability, freedom, privacy,... are all important and valid arguments to be heard by the future Members of the European Parliament!</p>
<p>You can also use the 2009 documents <a href="http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-what-is-as-stake.en.pdf">Free Software - what is at stake</a> and <a href="http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-the-threats.en.pdf">Free Software - The threats</a> to have more ideas on how to explain the issue to your candidates. Don't hesitate to use them!</p>
<p>And of course, you can also sign the <a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/declaration/">Free Software usage declaration</a> in order to show you support for Free Software and tell politicians that you believe it is important that they protect and promote it.</p>The Free Software usage declaration is now online!urn:md5:08fa207fb3f39374e681431214dac3912014-04-252014-04-25Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news <p>The Free Software usage declaration is a simple way to let candidates know Free Software matters to European citizens. It allows you to announce that you are a Free Software user and that you want Free Software to be promoted and protected by the legislators in Europe. It is <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/declaration/">now available on the Free Software Pact website for you to sign!</a></p>
<p>The more signatures we have, the more candidates are likely to sign the Free Software Pact! Please <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/declaration/">sign it</a> and spread the word to your friends!</p>
<p>This usage declaration has been proposed since 2007 by the French initiative <a href="https://candidats.fr/petition/index.php?petition=3&signe=oui">Candidats.fr</a> and has been signed by over 18 000 persons! To check it out, see the <a href="https://candidats.fr/petition/index.php?petition=3&signe=oui">Candidats.fr</a> website.</p>The website is now available in Latvian!urn:md5:0c2d836f2def92e4d60b044230cac7c62014-04-242014-04-24Jeanne TadeuszLocal initiatives <p>We are happy to announce that the website is now available in Latvian. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped!</p>
<p>Other languages will be available soon. Check out the <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks">wiki</a> to see them and help out!</p>Banners are now available - show your support!urn:md5:c3a10939a20b42afe3e9df6b5b3925422014-04-232014-04-23Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>Thanks to volunteers, we now have many banners available to show you support of the Free Software Pact! They are all under a Free licence (the first series under the same licence as the website, the second series under a CC-0 licence), so dont hesitate to use them, modify them. Your can also offer your own!</p> <h4>Square 125x125 banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-125x125.png" title="freesoftwarepact-125x125.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-125x125.png" alt="freesoftwarepact-125x125.png" title="freesoftwarepact-125x125.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>125x125 square banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-125x125.png"/></a></code></p>
<h4>Rectangular 728x90 banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-728x90.png" title="freesoftwarepact-728x90.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-728x90.png" alt="freesoftwarepact-728x90.png" title="freesoftwarepact-728x90.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>728x90 rectangular banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-728x90.png"/></a></code></p>
<h4>Rectangular 300x250 banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-300x250.png" title="freesoftwarepact-300x250.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-300x250.png" alt="freesoftwarepact-300x250.png" title="freesoftwarepact-300x250.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>300x250 rectangular banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-300x250.png"/></a></code></p>
<h4>Rectangular 468x60 banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-468x60.png" title="freesoftwarepact-468x60.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-468x60.png" alt="freesoftwarepact-468x60.png" title="freesoftwarepact-468x60.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>468x60 rectangular banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/freesoftwarepact-468x60.png"/></a></code></p>
<h4>Rectangular "signatory" banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-signatory.png" title="ban-signatory.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-signatory.png" alt="ban-signatory.png" title="ban-signatory.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>400x150 rectangular banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-signatory.png"/></a></code></p>
<p>More banners of this type can be found <a href="https://gist.github.com/obfusk/7cd23376ba9401396619" hreflang="en">here</a>.</p>
<h4>Rectangular "supporter" banner</h4>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-signatory.png" title="ban-supporter.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-supporter.png" alt="ban-supporter.png" title="ban-supporter.png, Apr 2014" /></a></p>
<p>400x150 rectangular banner. Use following HTML code to embed in your website:</p>
<p><code><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/"><img alt="Free Software Pact banner" title="The Free Software Pact" src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/images/en/ban-supporter.png"/></a></code></p>
<p>More banners of this type can be found <a href="https://gist.github.com/obfusk/7cd23376ba9401396619" hreflang="en">here</a>.</p>New versions of the Free Software Pact: Spanish and Esperanto now onlineurn:md5:34f4ff147be3405e6972158da73f8c5c2014-04-172014-04-17Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news <p>The Pact is now available for download in the following languages:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_ES.pdf">Spanish</a></li>
<li><a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_EO.pdf">Esperanto</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to everyone who helped translate!</p>
<p>We will also introduce translations of the website in new languages: Spanish, Italian and German are <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks#Translations_of_the_website_waiting_for_proofreading">just in need of the last proofreading</a>. Stay tuned!</p>New versions of the Free Software Pact: Dutch, Latvian, Swedish now onlineurn:md5:40cc59b9eaa03b84a8bd9c57287cc24e2014-04-092014-04-09Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>The Free Software Pact has been translated in Dutch, Latvian, and Swedish!</p> <p>The Pact is now available for download in the following languages:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_NL.pdf">Dutch</a></li>
<li><a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_LV.pdf">Latvian</a></li>
<li><a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_SV.pdf">Swedish</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to everyone who helped translate!</p>
<p>The complete list of available languages can be found on the<a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/The-Free-Software-Pact"> Pact page</a>.</p>
<p>Ongoing translations are listed on a <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks">wiki page</a>, don't hesitate to have a look and help us translate!</p>New video: Richard M. Stallman on Free Software and the European Electionsurn:md5:62a1d449c9469a8cc717ccce8f3996d92014-03-282014-03-28Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>We are happy to introduce a new video on the website, from Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation.</p> <p>Richard M. Stallman is the president of the Free Software Foundation and the founder of the Free Software movement. In this video, he explains why it is important for citizens to get involved and get in touch with their future MEPs to talk to them about Free Software.</p>
<video id="video1" controls="controls" poster="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/videos/rms.png" height="360" width="640">
<source src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/videos/rms-small.webm" type="video/webm">
<source src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/videos/rms-small.ogv" type="video/ogg">
<p>
Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video.
<a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/videos/rms-small.webm">Download</a> the video instead (or <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/videos/rms-small.ogv">OGG</a> version)</p>
</video>New versions of the Free Software Pact: Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Slovak now online!urn:md5:40e52decbf0934b4c3dad31254c9b2702014-03-212014-03-21Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>The Free Software Pact has been translated in Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Slovak !</p> <p>The Pact is now available for download in the following languages:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_FI.pdf">Finnish</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_DE.pdf">German</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_GR.pdf">Greek</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_IT.pdf">Italian</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_PT.pdf">Portuguese</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_SK.pdf">Slovak</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Many thanks to everyone who helped translate!</p>
<p>And we are putting the final touches for the Spanish, Dutch, and Danish version. Don't hesitate to check it out on <a href="https://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks">the wiki page</a>!</p>Translation updates: introducing a multilingual version of the Free Software Pact websiteurn:md5:82ad3a97b0a6a8593e9f5c94c65fa8782014-03-112014-03-11Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>Thanks to layout changes, the website is now multilingual!</p> <p>So far, we have finished the translation in French and we are starting to translate in other languages.</p>
<p>If you want to contribute by translating, don't hesitate to get in touch! We also have listed the translation pages on the <a href="https://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks">wiki</a>. Don't hesitate to check it out!</p>A Flyer for the Free Software Pacturn:md5:b88b83921d9ed92c4ed4e1f6ee9bbe8b2014-02-212014-02-21Jeanne TadeuszLocal initiatives<p>In order to promote the Free Software Pact campaign, April made a flyer which was distributed for FOSDEM and various events. Made by Antoine Bardelli, it is <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/20140130-flyer-fsp-fosdem.pdf">available</a> under a free licence: <a href="http://artlibre.org/">LAL version 1.3</a> or later version, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC-BY-SA 2.0</a> or later version, and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html">GNU FDL version 1.3</a> or later version.</p> <p>Don't hesitate to print it, modify it, translate it, and spread the word!</p>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/flyer-image_1.png" title="flyer-image_1.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/.flyer-image_1_m.png" alt="flyer-image_1.png" style="float:left; margin: 0 1em 1em 0;" title="flyer-image_1.png, fév. 2014" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/flyer-image_2.png" title="flyer-image_2.png"><img src="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/.flyer-image_2_m.png" alt="flyer-image_2.png" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;" title="flyer-image_2.png, fév. 2014" /></a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>A PDF version is also <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/20140130-flyer-fsp-fosdem.pdf">available</a> as well a the <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/pactfreesoft.zip">sources</a>.</p>First signatures and new translations of the Free Software Pacturn:md5:ff93d98c15a18455bf31b7be042f5af32014-02-132014-02-13Jeanne TadeuszCampaign news<p>In the first few days following the launch of the campaign, a few candidates signed the pact.
But in order to have more impact, candidates need to be able to read it in their own languages. Hence the translation of the pact is getting ready quite a few languages: the Pact is already available in English, French, Romanian :</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_EN.pdf">The Free Software Pact</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_FR.pdf">Le Pacte du Logiciel Libre</a></li>
<li><a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/public/Free-Software-Pact-2014_RO.pdf">Pactul Programelor Libere</a></li>
</ul> <p>We are looking for proofreaders in <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_German">German</a>, <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Spanish">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Greek">Greek</a>, <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Dutch">Dutch</a>, <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Italian">Italian</a>, <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Polish">Polish</a> and <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_Software_Pact_in_Portuguese">Portuguese</a>: please let us know if you find any leftover mistakes in those past.</p>
<p>We are also <a href="http://wiki.april.org/w/Free_software_pact:_list_of_tasks">looking for translators</a> in Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, and Czech.</p>
<p>Last - but not least- announcement: we are working on making the website multilingual and have just started to translate all the texts. <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/Join-Us">Stay in touch</a>!</p>An open letter to the Members of the European Parliamenturn:md5:eb92b4a592d8f3f23a27e70e8f6e5cda2014-01-312014-01-31Benjamin DrieuLocal initiatives <p>As a kickoff to the 2014 Free Software Pact campaign, April sent an <a href="http://www.april.org/en/open-letter-members-european-parliament-free-software-and-free-software-pact">open letter</a> to all Members of the European Parliament on 31 january 2014.</p>
<p>Its aims is to remind MEPs of the biggest issues related to Free Software during the past five years, asking them to take a stand on these issues, by signing the Free Software Pact for those
campaigning for reelection, or by taking stock of their term if they are not running for office again.</p>Beginning of the campaignurn:md5:b86d08d42bf41dfdba06094008e4cf582014-01-292014-01-29Benjamin DrieuLocal initiatives<p>The European Elections will take place May 22-25 2014. Let's make all
our future Members of the European Parliament aware of the importance of
Free Software, related issues, and ask them to commit to the promotion
and dissemination of Free Software ! </p> <p>The <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/The-Free-Software-Pact">Free Software Pact is now online</a>, as well as the <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/Join-Us">first campaigning tools</a>. Please do not hesitate to start using them, and <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/Contact">contact us</a> if you have any questions or comment. Some Free Software Pact activists will also be at FOSDEM on February 1-2 in Brussels, and will be happy to talk to you about the campaign.
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<p>And we need your help to make the campaign a success, <a href="https://freesoftwarepact.eu/post/Join-Us">so don't hesitate to join us</a>!</p>