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The petition specifically points to the fact that the live web streaming from the European Parliament's plenary sessions is currently only available to those using Microsoft's Media Player. Also, it appears that members of the European Parliament are unable to "access documents sent to them in formats adhering to Open Standards, including the ISO standard for electronic office documents, the Open Document Format (ODF) - the primary format for an ecosystem of office productivity applications."

Graham Taylor, Chief Executive of OpenForum Europe said: "The benefits of the Internet were achieved from open standards, freedom of access, participation for all, innovation where it really mattered. Not proprietary lock-in and monopoly. Government and Parliament need to show leadership in ensuring full participation for all its citizens."

The petition explains that the EU Public procurement laws are based on the principles of transparency and non-discrimination, but the usage in the EP ICT systems of a proprietary solution with closed formats just means that "the European Parliament is dependent on a single vendor and that companies cannot freely compete on merit to provide applications and services."

Pieter Hintjens, General Secretary of Esoma explains, "Small businesses are moving to modern open standards like Open Document Format, yet to write to their MEPs they have to switch back to old proprietary formats? The EP should lead the way in open government, starting with open standards for documents and recordings."

The petition is supported by the Green MEPs in the EP. In a press conference organized on 6 March, Green MEP David Hammerstein, spokesperson for the Greens in the Petitions Committee said: "The European Parliament must practice what it preaches. We support the "Open Parliament" petition because we believe the current situation of a Microsoft monopoly has a negative impact on participatory democracy, innovation and competition."

Green MEP Eva Lichtenberger, vice-president of the Green Group in the EP expanded the topic to web-related monopolies :"We are confronted with a very problematic situation on the Web and also concerning hardware: Monopolies are gaining ever more influence - the latest news about Google taking over DoubleClick and a possible absorption of Yahoo by Microsoft are two such examples. Monopolies tend to loose flexibility and in the end to block innovation."

The latter declaration is in line with the recently adopted Declaration on "Standards and the Future of the Internet" adopted in Geneva on 25 February 2008 by the members of the OpenForum Europe Conference.

The signatories support the idea that "Open Standards already underpin the success of the Internet, and acts as an exemplar to the market on what is important, and what is possible when full competition and innovation is unleashed." Therefore they pledge to maintain the openness and integrity of the Internet as enjoyed today.

Open Parliament - Petition to the European Parliament on the implications of ICT lock-in for participative democracy and for competition (6.03.2008)

Declaration for open standards in the internet passed (29.02.2008)

Declaration "Standards and the Future of the Internet" (25.02.2008)

Complaint Lodged Over EU Parliament's Exclusive Use Of Microsoft Systems (6.03.2008)

New petition calls for open standards in the European Parliament (6.03.2008)

Greens call for end of Microsoft monopoly in the European Institutions (6.03.2008)

Source: EDRI-gram - "European Parliament criticized for not using open standards" Number 6.5, Mar. 12, 2008